Feb 18, 2009


Bethlehem – Ma’an – In a third consecutive day of mass arrests Israeli forces stormed the northern West Bank town of Jayyus near Qalqiliya early morning Wednesday and seized 65 Palestinian youth in an ongoing military operation.

Israeli soldiers declared the town a "Closed Military Area" and barred journalists from entering. A curfew has been imposed, trapping residents in their homes.

Soldiers told the families of those detained that they were "wanted" by Israeli intelligence.

Local sources said several Israeli military vehicles surrounded the town, blocked the main road using earth piles and rocks, and used loudspeakers to announce a curfew and order all the youth of the town to gather for inspection in the local school.

Once the youth were gathered Israeli soldiers took 20 of them to an unknown location. By noon more than 65 had been detained.

Jayyus Mayor Muhammad Taher Jaber described the situation as "miserable," saying that residents are fleeing the town in fear.

"The Israelis’ actions aim to make us leave our land," he said.

Jaber added that the Israeli troops are threatening in an attempt to stop weekly demonstrations taking place in the town.

"The Israeli wall confiscated about 600 dunums of lands and 8,600 donums were isolated behind the wall, where the town’s area is 12,500 dunums," adding that thousands of jobs were lost as a result of the wall as a result of the isolation of agricultural land.

Witnesses said the military activity was concentrated at the Shamasnah neighborhood and the town’s center. They noted that soldiers occupied several homes and raised an Israeli flag on the roofs of several buildings.

According to members of the Stop the Wall campaign in the area Israeli troops have occupied ten homes in the village, each with an Israeli flag hoisted on the roof. The homes are described as tall buildings with strategic vantage points across the town.

Two of the raided and vandalized homes were that of Jabir Shamasnah and then that of town’s mayor Muhammad Taher Jaber.

According to Israeli sources the village was raided in a sweep for illegal weapons. An army spokesperson told the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, that forces were operating in the town following a rise in the number of incidents involving the throwing of stones at Israeli vehicles.

Eight of those taken were identified as:

Sakhr Shamasnah,
Jabir Shamasnah,
Kamal Shamasnah,
Adli Shamasnah,
Anwar Aarif,
Mahir Aarif,
Muhammad Bilal and
Hamadah Nimir

The residents of Jayyus organize a weekly demonstration against the construction of the separation wall on village land. Foreign activists frequently attend the events and Israeli soldiers regularly invade the town and harass its residents following the departure of the activists.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces on Wednesday morning apprehended two Palestinian university students from the northern West Bank town of Far’un, south of Tulkarem.

Soldiers stormed the town at dawn, ransacking a residential building and seizing two students at the Palestine Technical University.

Two of the students detained were identified as 22-year-old Sami Al-Jaroushi, affiliated with Fatah, and 20-year-old Fawzi Qarqur, apparently a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

On Tuesday, 30 Palestinians were arrested from across the West Bank, and on Monday close to 50 were taken. All were deemed "wanted" by Israeli authorities and taken to unknown locations for questioning.


***Updated 18:27Bethlehem time