At 3 am 26 soldiers entered the village of Bilin on foot to arrest Ibrahim Abed El Fatah Bornat. On their way to Ibrahim’s house, the soldiers ran into Ashraf Abu Rahmah. A gun was pointed to his head, his hands cuffed behind his back and a cloth attached to his mouth to prevent him from alarming people. Ashraf was distanced from the scene and left in the dark, guarded by soldiers while Ibrahim was arrested and taken away.
At 3.30 am a military convoy of seven jeeps entered Bilin to search the house of Ibrahim’s family. A computer, a pair of shoes, a cap and several documents, all belonging to Ibrahim’s brother Mohammad, were confiscated. While the search went on, cameramen and photographers were held back from the scene by soldiers and border police claiming the area to be a closed military zone. The captain held a paper in Hebrew, supposedly supporting the claim of this area to be military closed. Everyone was withheld for a 50 meter perimeter surrounding the house. When asked to have a closer look at the paper, the captain denied and pushed everybody back under threat of arrest.
Bilin Night Raid 2/2
While Hamde Abu Rahmah, a journalist from Bilin, approached to take a picture, soldiers violently attacked him and placed him under arrest. When an international journalist, tried to interfere to protect Hamde Abu Rahmeh, she too was arrested. Both were cuffed and taken away in a jeep.
At approximately 4:30 am the convoy left the scene.
Four Shabak (Israeli Intelligence) jeeps and one military hummer rolled through Bil’in around 3am this morning. Computer screens with GPS maps were visible in the jeeps. They started throwing sound bombs amongst houses when camera people arrived on the scene.
Soldiers in the last hummer taunted the camera people by making chicken noises. It seemed like they were looking for someone or were lost in Bil’in as they turned down side streets and returned to the main road between the school and the mosque. Earlier in the evening residents of Bil’in reported seeing the military throwing tear gas at young kids who were near the Israeli Apartheid Wall. Invasions like this are not uncommon in Bil’in. One person from Bil’in was injured while running to document the invasion last night. There were no arrests. This happened less than one week since the arrest of Bilin Popular Committee member Mohammad Al Khatib.
Khatib during a speaking his speaking tour in Canada last year. Photo Credit: Tadamon!
At a quarter to two AM tonight, Mohammed Khatib, his wife Lamia and their four young children were woken up by Israeli soldiers storming their home, which was surrounded by a large military force. Once inside the house, the soldiers arrested Khatib, conducted a quick search and left the house.
Roughly half an hour after leaving the house, five military jeeps surrounded the house again, and six soldiers forced their way into the house again, where Khatib’s children sat in terror, and conducted another, very thorough search of the premises, without showing a search warrant. During the search, Khatib’s phone and many documents were seized, including papers from Bil’in’s legal procedures in the Israel High Court.
The soldiers exited an hour and a half later, leaving a note saying that documents suspected as “incitement materials” were seized. International activists who tried to enter the house to be with the family during the search were aggressively denied entry.
Mohammed Khatib was previously arrested during the ongoing wave of arrests and repression on Augst 3rd, 2009 with charges of incitement and stone throwing. After two weeks of detention, a military judge ruled that evidence against him was falsified and ordered his release, after it was proven that Khatib was abroad at the time the army alleged he was photographed throwing stones during a demonstration.
International activist detained during the night raid and arrest of Mohammed Khatib in Bil'lin. Photo Credit: Ma'an News Agency
Khatib’s arrest today is the most severe escalation in a recent wave of repression again the Palestinian popular struggle and its leadership. Khatib is the 35th resident of Bil’in to be arrested on suspicions related to anti-Wall protest since June 23rd, 2009.
The recent wave of arrests is largely an assault on the members of the Popular Committees – the leadership of the popular struggle – who are then charged with incitement when arrested. The charge of incitement, defined under Israeli military law as “an attempt, whether verbally or otherwise, to influence public opinion in the Area in a way that may disturb the public peace or public order,” is a cynical attempt to punish grassroots organizing with a hefty charge and lengthy imprisonments. Such indictments are part of the army’s strategy of using legal persecution as a means to quash the popular movement.
Similar raids have also been conducted in the village of alMaasara, south of Bethlehem, and in the village of Ni’ilin – where 110 residents have been arrested over the last year and half, as well as in the cities of Nablus, Ramallah and East Jerusalem.
Among those arrested in the recent campaign are three members of the Ni’ilin Popular Committee, Sa’id Yakin of the Palestinian National Committee Against the Wall, and five members of the Bil’in Popular Committee – all suspected of incitement.
Prominent grassroots activists Jamal Jum’a (East Jerusalem) and Mohammed Othman (Jayyous) of the Stop the Wall NGO, involved in anti-Wall and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaigning, have recently been released from detention after being incarcerated for long periods based on secret evidence and with no charges brought against them.
At 4am on January 21st, at least 30 members of the Israel Police, Border Police, Army and Secret Police (Shin Bet) raided the village of Beit Ommar, arresting four men.
At the home of Mohammed Salibi, the Occupation Forces broke the window of the door in an effort to enter, as well as another window. Upon entering with a search dog, they asked for the whereabouts of Mohammed from his brothers, Alah, 20, and Ahmed, 14, who were sleeping at the time. Alah, who previously spent 3 months in Occupation jails, was thrown against the wall. Three agents picked up Ahmed and threw him on the ground. Cabinets were also smashed in the house and personal items thrown on the ground.
After finding Mohammed, 25, sleeping, they arrested him and took him away without providing further information. As of January 24th, there is still no word on his whereabouts. Three other residents of Beit Ommar were arrested: Jamal Ibrahim ‘Aliyan, 18; Mohammed Mahsin Abd Al-hamid Awoud, 32, an officer in the Palestinian Police Force; and ‘Alam Ghazi Munir Ibraghit, 18. Their condition is unknown.
Witnesses reported that three Israeli officers went by the title “Captain Tameer”, “Captain Adam”, and “Captain Younis”. Damage to the Salibi house totaled over 400 shekels.
