2 June 2009
Israeli forces invaded the town of Ni’lin at 2 am on Wednesday, 2nd of June. The army forcefully entered five homes and siezed four residents, Sa’dat Ibrahim Mustafa Ameerah (19), Mahmod Abdallah Ameerah (26), Ibrahim Khalil Ad-Dik Srour (18) and Hamada Abdel Raziq Khawaja (28). All of them are suspected in taking part of the popular resistance against the Annexation Wall. The arrested were taken to Ofer Prisoner Camp, a tent prison. A fifth person the army was looking for, Hassan Nimer Khawaja (22), was not captured since he was not at home when the Israeli army came. His family was given a paper ordering Hassan and his father to come to Ofer Prison Camp on 2 June at 2pm.
More than 100 soldiers came by foot, entering the village through the fields and surrounding the homes of the five persons they were aiming to arrest. Shortly thereafter, dozens of jeeps entered the village.
Hassan Khawaja, who was given an order to come to Ofer, chose to turn himself in because of frequent harassment of his family from Israeli soldiers.
Ibrahim Srour (18) was taken from a local bakery in Ni’lin, where he had started to work 2 weeks ago. According to Ibrahim’s colleagues, about 10 soldiers entered the bakery at 2am and arrested Ibrahim. Simultaneously, soldiers entered Srour’s home and went straight upstairs to search his room for evidence in connection with the popular resistance but nothing was found.
The Israeli forces did not give a reason for the invasion of the Srour home. After the soldiers left, Ibrahim’s work colleague called his family to explain that Ibrahim had been handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to the Israeli road block at the entrance of the village. Ibrahim’s father Khalil took one of his daughters with him and went to the entrance to try to bring Ibrahim back home or give him some extra clothes since he was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
“I went to the roadblocks to bring back my son. When I came there I saw him sitting on the ground with his eyes blindfolded and his hands tied behind his back. I asked the soldiers if I could talk to him but they screamed at me to go back and at the same time I heard my son’s voice telling me to go back home. He wanted to protect me and I had to return back without him or giving him anything”
At 2am, Israeli soldiers with the commander in charge, “Captain Foad”, entered the house of Hamada Khawaja. Soldiers has previously harassed the neighbors while searching for Hamada’s house. Hamada’s entire family was woken by the soldiers, including his 2 children, ages 2 and 4 years old. According to Hamada’s brother, “Captain Foad” made jokes, asking the family who they thought he had come to take. Hamada and his brother were both taken downstairs and then Hamada was arrested and taken away. The family must now rely solely on the income of Hamada’s brother, whose family lives with Hamada.
At 2.10 am, Israeli forces knocked on the door of Mahmod Ameerah, calling his name. According to his wife, the whole family was asleep at the time. Mahmod went up to open the door and three soldiers entered the house. The soldiers remained inside Mahmod’s home, until the commander, “Captain Foad” came at 4am and arrested Mahmod. Mahmod provides the sole income for the family and is the father of 2 daughters, aged 1 and 2. Mahmod is the second son in the family that has been imprisoned on a suspicion of involvment with the popular resistance against the Wall.
Soldiers surrounded the home of Sa’dat Ameerah and entered at 2:15am. The family of ten were all put into one room except for the mother and 2 youngest children. The soldiers asked for the IDs of the 3 oldest sons. Around 3:15am, “Captain Foad” came to the home and Sa´dat was arrested, blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to a jeep.
Sadat’s father, Ibrahim, a member of the Popular Committee of Ni’lin, was also arrested during a night invasion on the 14th of August. He was imprisoned and interrogated on a daily basis until his release 16 days later. Subsequently, Ibrahim Ameerah lost his permit to work in Israel proper. Additionally, Sa’dats younger brother was arrested on the 22nd of December 2008 and released in April.
Israeli forces regularly invade Ni’lin to arrest residents believed to be active in the popular resistance against the Annexation Wall. Since the start of the construction of the Annexation Wall in May 2008, more than 70 villagers have been arrested. Six of the arrested were children under the age of 18; Mohammad Ata Mousa (14), Ibrahim Khalqel (16), Yazed Hussam Mousa (16), Majed Hisham Nafea (17), Sufyan Khawaja (17), Saeed Ibrahim Amireh (17), and Mohammed Daoud Khawaja (17). These children have had their educations interrupted and several missed a school term.
Night invasions, a tool of the Israeli occupation forces to arrest suspected participants in the resistance to the illegal Annexation Wall, are ongoing. The village of Ni’lin will lose another 2,500 dunums of land after the construction of the Wall. A village that was 57,000 dunums before 1948, Ni’lin will have only 7,500 dunums left. Residents, alongside international and Israeli solidarity activists, have participated in demonstrations against the land confiscation since May 2008.