by the ISM media team, March 13th
This was the message from the IOF commander of Jenin district to students from Zababda village south of Jenin when 15 students from the Arab American University and 6 students from the local secondary school were arrested early on Monday morning. During the three hour invasion the army broke down the doors of students’ dorms and apartments and threw rocks at windows.
Most of those arrested were released except one student from the university and four young students from the village who remain in detention – Mohammad Sharqawi, 14 years, Sadam Sharqawi, 15 years old, Bilal Sharqawi, 16 years old and Jawad Sharqawi, 14 years old.
According to those detained, most of whom belonged to the Hamas bloc at the university, the IOF asked them to work as informers before telling them that they knew everything anyway. Children are often detained by the IOF to get information from them or to persuade them to work as informers in the future.
Zababda has experienced several atrocities and attacks on students’ dorms by the Israeli military, with four students and one professor being killed in the past three years and more than 60 imprisoned.
Last night, the Israeli army set up a checkpoint at the entrance of the village stopping vehicles and invaded the village again, arresting another three students.