Tag: Al Ayn Refugee Camp

Israeli soldiers violently break into five homes in the Al Ayn Camp

January 9th, 2013 | Al Ayn Refugee Camp, Occupied Palestine.

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers in 27 military jeeps violently broke in and ransacked five homes in the Al Ayn refugee camp, Nablus. They caused widespread destruction in the houses involved in the raid. No arrests were made.

Weam Reda Khaled, a woman whose house was ransacked, recounted how forty soldiers with dogs broke open the door of her home at three this morning. They came into the living-room and bedroom, shouting and intimidating her and her children. The family was forced to stay in the doorway while soldiers searched the house and broke everything that came to their hands. One of her sons was blindfolded, handcuffed and interrogated for two hours under the staircase. In the meantime, the army smashed furniture and electronic appliances in the kitchen, living-room and bedroom. They threw the television and some furniture on the roof, under the rain. Weam described how her four year old son was terrorised by the scene of the military violently breaking in and searching their house. Initially, soldiers even refused to let him go to the bathroom. This is the second time in the last eight months that Weam received such a visit. In May, soldiers broke into her home and arrested her husband, who is still being held in administrative detention without any charge brought against him.

Four other families in the Al Ayn camp suffered the same fate of Weam. In one case, a family of eight was forced to stay outside in shivering cold and heavy rain for four hours. Here, soldiers raided the store of the family and ruined the food kept there by throwing bread and flour on the ground and spilling oil all over the floor. Most of the furniture and appliances of the home were damaged or completely broken. In another case a man and his son were tied and locked in one room while soldiers ransacked the house, damaged the sofa, broke the TV and washing machine. A 70-year old man with a heart condition had to be hospitalised because of the shock suffered from the army’s invasion of his house.

The Al Ayn Camp, home to 5,000 refugees from the 1948 Zionist massacres, is known for its fierce resistance to Israeli occupation and for its resilience during the second intifada. During this raid the Israeli army told the families that they were searching for weapons. However, none were found in Al Ayn Camp during yesterday night’s ransacking.

Israeli forces invade Al-Ein camp, arrest three

17 January 2009

Muntaser Hamdi's house was invaded and trashed by 13 Israeli soldiers. — Muntaser Hamdi’s house was invaded and trashed by 13 Israeli soldiers.

Early in the morning of January 17 the Israeli army arrested 3 young Palestinian in a dawn raid on Al-Ein Refugee camp, located to the North of Nablus. The soldiers came at around 5am, departing at around 8 the same morning. The three friends – Samer As-Salhi (17 years old), Muntaser Hamdi (19) and Raed Al-Khatib (21) – none of whom had any previous convictions, were taken from their homes in simultaneous raids by several large groups of soldiers. The mother of the eldest, Raed Al-Khatib, described how the soldiers identified him by his ID documents from a page-long list of names, other Palestinians presumambly wanted by the military.

According to family members present during the raid the As-Salhi’s house was entered by 7 soldiers at 5am. The soldiers pushed and shoved family members, manhandling women and children. Several items in the house were damaged including the kitchen ceiling and bedroom furniture, most likely due to sound grenades. The soldiers left the house between 6 and 6.30am. The As-Salhi family has already suffered similar raids – Samer’s older brother Eiman (aged 22) has been in prison for 4 years now. Samer, only 17 years old, has until now been working as a carpenter.

The second family we spoke to described how Muntaser Hamdi was taken by more than 13 soldiers, who broke down the door of their house at 6 in the morning. During the 20 minute operation the soldiers tore open several sofas in the living room. As is routine with most operations of this kind, the targets were the men and boys of the camp; Muntaser’s brother was also searched during the raid. But it is not only the young males who are bearing the brunt of the raids – apart from damaged property in an area already scarred with the visible effects of occupation, the raid on the Hamdi household left two terrified young children, Muntaser’s younger siblings. Muntaser himself was blindfolded before being taken away.

The raid that hit the Al-Khatib household was particularly brutal. About 20 soldiers entered the small apartment at 6am, setting of a sound grenade which punched a hole in the kitchen ceiling. Repeating a pattern apparent in the other raids, according to Raed Al-Khatib’s mother the damage done to the kitchen happened while the soldiers searched for weapons; as in the other two cases, nothing was found. Other damage sustained during the raid included a broken dishwasher and a bathroom door ripped off its hinges. After going through cupboards and drawers, and body-searching all the men in the house, Raed was identified from a long list of other names, blindfolded and taken away. Raed’s mother has since been in contact with the Israeli human rights organisation HaMoked, who have helped her discover the prison where her son is being held, precious information usually denied to Palestinians.

The families indicated that the three friends were probably taken to the Huwara prison, as in a previous raid that ISM reported on at the end of October last year, where thirteen boys were arrested and taken from the camp. No information has been given as to how long the most recent three will be held but in previous instances, as with Samer As-Salhi’s brother, this has been anything from a month to several years.

Israeli forces raid Al-Ein refugee camp, arrest thirteen

1 November 2009

Family holding photographs of their two sons, Yassar (20) and Ahmad (17), arrested during military night raid on El-Ein refugee camp on 27 October — Family holding photographs of their two sons, Yassar and Ahmad, arrested during a night raid on El-Ein refugee camp on 27 October

Thirteen Palestinian boys were arrested in a raid on Al-Ein refugee camp outside Nablus, Wednesday 27 October. With the exception of one, all boys were aged 17, in their final year of school, and had no previous convictions. Amongst the arrested were two brothers – Yassar, 20 and Ahmad, 17. ISM activists visited the family’s home in the camp.

Yassar and Ahmad’s mother speaks frankly of the sudden, unprovoked attack on their small home in the camp. At 2am, as the family slept, Yassar was awoken by the unmistakable sounds of the Israeli military entering the camp, soldiers knocking on nearby doors and demanding to know the whereabouts of his family. Yassar ran to wake his siblings and parents as he heard a voice at the door saying “this is the house”.

A loud knock came on the door and one of Yassar’s young brothers opened it to face 10 armed Israeli soldiers, faces masked and covered in camouflage paint. The soldiers entered the home, immediately forcing all members to hand over their identity cards. The army remained in the house until 4am, forcing the entire family to stay awake in the small front room as military personnel came and went, checking their IDs, moving through the house but asking few questions. Eventually the ID cards were returned to all the family, except Yassar, who was taken by the soldiers. The family learned soon after that Ahmad, Yassar’s younger brother had been taken from his grandmother’s house nearby, along with six of his friends.

The family is in the dark as to why the two young men were arrested. Yassar had been released 2 months ago after serving 30 months in an Israeli prison, from the age of 17. During his imprisonment his family were not permitted to visit him even once. He served half of his 60 month sentence before being released on parole – now detained again, the family fears that they will not see him for another 3 years or more. Just days before, Yassar had been telling his mother of his plans for the future – to apply for technical college this week to gain certification in a trade, enabling him to leave his employment in a food factory. Now these plans may be put on hold for years to come.

Five months ago Ahmad was briefly detained for questioning by the PA, allegedly because a friend of his had mentioned his name to Israeli soldiers when he was detained at a checkpoint. The PA police subsequently came to Ahmad’s house and told his family that “We can take him now, or the Israelis can come and take him later”. Understandably, Ahmad then surrendered to the PA police. This case illustrates clearly that the Israelis can, and do, give orders to the PA, whose forces then carry out the dirty work within the West Bank for Israel.

Yassar and Ahmad are both being held at Huwwara prison and their mother alone has been granted one visit, on the 1st of November, after being in contact with different legal groups working for the rights of prisoners of the illegal occupation.

There are currently 11,000 Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel, many of them with no access to legal aid, education or their families in Palestine.