International Solidarity Movement Nonviolence. Justice. Freedom.
29 June 2009
Early morning the 29th of June, the Israeli Occupation Force invaded four houses in the Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus. The soldiers arrested 3 boys of between 16 and 17 years old, without letting them or their family know why. In several of the houses, the soldiers had destroyed furniture, mirrors, cabinets and kitchen equipment.
At around 2 o’ clock in the morning, about 40 heavily armed soldiers with around 8 jeeps surrounded the house of the Mamroti family in the Balate Refugee Camp in Nablus. When the soldiers entered the house, they wanted to talk to the father in the house, Daod Salem Mamroti, whom they asked to undress. Later, the soldiers forced the parents with their five children out on the street, and demanded to see all their ID-cards. When they found the family’s 16 year old son Mohamed Daod Salem Mamroti, they took him to the school nearby while the rest of the family had to stay inside a groceryshop close to their house.
“While we stood inside the groceryshop, we could hear the soldiers entering our house above, and we heard how they broke our things and our furtiture. They didn’t tell us what they were looking for, or for how long we had to stay inside the shop. It was terrifying!”, Daod says.
After the family had stayed in the groceryshop for two houres, the soldiers left their apartment, put Mohamed in a jeep, and drove away. When the family again could enter their apartment, they didn’t believe their eyes. Everything was torn upside down, furniture were destroyed, mirrors were broken, cabinets were empty, and all their stuff was on the floor. They found the water tanks opened, without knowing if the soldiers had done something to the drinking water, and the kitchen looked like a wreck.
The same night, at around 2 am, a group of about 11 heavily armed Israeli soldiers from IOF also entered the house of the Hashash family in the Balata Refugee Camp. The soldiers demands everybody to go outside, except the father of the house who was forced to go with the soldiers in to the house with the them as well as two huge, military trained dogs. The soldiers were saying that they were looking for a gun, and tore the bedroom up side down. The soldiers demanded to see the family’s tree son’s ID-cards, and asked particularly to talk to the family’s 16 year old son Ashraf Kait Hashash. Thy asked Ashraf many questions, and arrested him. The family was not told why he was arrested, were they were taking him, or when he was going to come back.
At around 3 am the 29th of June, another group of Israeli soldiers, entered the house of the Awais family in the Balata Refugee Camp, and arrested the family’s 17 year old son Mohamed Besem Mahmod Aweis without any explanation. The soldiers did not destroy anything within this house, nor did they treat any of the family members violently.
At 2 am in the morning, the 25th of June, a group of Israeli Soldiers entered a small house in the Balata Rafugee Camp, and arrested the family’s 17 year old son Mohamed Salam Hashash. They did not explain why they arrested him, or when he will be released. Luckily the soldiers did not destroy anything inside the house.
