ISRAELI OCCUPATION ARREST FIVE PALESTINIANS IN BETHLEHEM

West Bank, 17 Jumadil Awwal 1435/18 March 2014 (MINA) – Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested Tuesday at dawn two Palestinian youths and three boys from the West Bank city of Bethlehem after a series of raids in the area.

Local sources said Israeli forces stormed the city and arrested Mohammed Abu Jalghif,26, from Wadi Shahin area, and Mohammed al-Harimy,22, from al-Saf street downtown the city. Palestine’s Al Ray quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The forces stormed al-Ezza refugee camp, north of Bethlehem, and arrested Mohammed al-Ezza,17. In Beit Fujjar to the south of Bethlehem, Israeli forces arrested Husam Thawabta,15, and Khaled Thawabta,17.

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Israeli occupation forces routinely carry out arrest raids in the West Bank. Around 40 percent of Palestinian men living in the occupied territories have been detained by Israel at some point in their lives.

Israeli settlers, yesterday also plowed land and performed religious rituals on lands recently confiscated from the nearby Palestinian villages of Deir Istiya and Haris, in the northern West Bank.

Witnesses said that bulldozers from the Revava settlement, northwest of Salfit, plowed the lands in order to expand the settlement.

Settlers also entered the lands around Haris village and performed religious rituals on lands confiscated from Palestinian villagers by the army on Saturday, ALQASSAM, Tuesday(11/3).

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Israeli forces notified the village council that they would confiscate 100 dunams (25 acres) of the village’s private land.

Witnesses added that the settlers have continuously seized lands from the villages of Haris and Deir Istiya, in order to expand their settlement.

Researcher Khalid Maali said that Revava — one of 23 settlements in the Salfit district — was established in 1991, on lands belonging to Deir Istiya, Haris, and Qarawat Bani Hassan.

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in illegal settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.

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Israeli settlements in the occupied territories commonly referred to as simply Israeli settlements are the Jewish civilian communities built on lands occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Such settlements currently exist in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and in the Golan Heights. (T/ P04/P03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)