Israel detains foreign activists in occupied West Bank

RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Israeli army on Friday detained 15 people, including both Palestinians and pro-Palestine foreign activists, in the West Bank city of Al-Khalil [Hebron], according to an Anadolu Agency photojournalist.

An Israeli military force detained the 15 as they attempted to fix a road that runs through the Israeli-occupied city, the photojournalist said.

According to the same source, roughly 150 foreign solidarity activists, along with a number of local residents, had been taking part in the road-construction project when the arrests were made.

The Israeli army has since reportedly designated the area a “closed military zone”.

The road in question falls within “Area C” of the West Bank, according to the terms of the Oslo Agreement.

Signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, the 1993 agreement divides the Israeli-occupied West Bank into three areas.

“Area A” falls under the full administrative and security control of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA); “Area B” falls under the PA’s administrative control and Israeli security control; and “Area C” -- in which Hebron is located -- falls under the exclusive administrative and security control of Israel.

In a related incident, Jewish settlers on Friday vandalized several Palestinian homes in the West Bank city of Nablus, according to a Palestinian official.

Ghassan Daghlas, the PA official in charge of the Israeli settlement file, told Anadolu Agency that Jewish settlers had raided the Arab town of Hawwara in Nablus, where they spray-painted racist and anti-Arab slogans on Palestinian-owned homes and vehicles.

Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank complain of frequent attacks by Jewish settlers, which often include acts of physical violence, vandalism and the destruction of Palestinian farmland.

Last year alone, Jewish settlers carried out 482 separate attacks on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank, according to Israeli media reports.

There are currently 250 Jewish-only settlements built across the West Bank, which Israel occupied in 1967. Considered illegal under international law, these settlements are home to an estimated 600,000 Israeli Jews.


Writing By Ali H. M.Abo Rezeg