Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
3 December 2009
For immediate release:
Night raids, conducted by the Israeli army as a part of the ongoing arrest campaign in an attempt to crush the popular struggle against the Apartheid Wall and settlements in the Palestinian village of Bil’in have resumed in the early hours of Thursday, 3 December.
At 2am, approximately 20 soldiers invaded the village on foot from the direction of the Apartheid Wall and broke into the house of Rani Najar, without issuing any prior warning. The soldiers handcuffed all men living in the house and detained them in a separate room. They then proceeded to arrest Rani (23), who had only returned from Jordan the previous day. Female members of the family who came to help Rani were violently pushed away, and, as the soldiers exited the house, they also failed to remove handcuffs from the earlier detained men.
The Israeli military are using night raids and arrests conducted by undercover army units in an attempt to crush the non-violent resistance against the Wall and settlements in the village. In addition to Rani, another 29 Bil’in residents were arrested for their involvement in the demonstrations since 23 June 2009. Israeli armed forces have been regularly invading homes and forcefully searching for demonstration participants, targeting the leaders of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, as well as teenage boys accused of throwing stones at the Wall. Sixteen (including Rani) currently remain in detention.
Among those arrested during the recent night raid campaign is Adeeb Abu Rahma, who has been held in detention for almost five months under a charge of ‘incitement’ – a term used by the Israeli military prosecution for organizing demonstrations.