March 1, 2013

The Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights reported that 382 Palestinians were arrested by the IOF in February, including the martyr Arafat Jaradat, 10 Palestinian women, and three deputies.

According to the monthly report, February 2013 saw 382 Palestinians arrested by Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza. Of the documented arrests, only 6 people were from the Gaza Strip and the remainder, 376 Palestinians, were from the West Bank. These numbers include the arrests of ten Palestinian women, some of whom have since been released and some of whom remain in Israeli jails.

Nablus is the city with the most arrests in the West Bank, where 72 people were taken. Jerusalem also had quite high number, with 70 citizens arrested during the month of February.

The human rights organization found that 59 people were detained from Hebron, with number 29 on that list being the martyr Arafat Jaradat, who died five days after his detention.

In Jenin there were 38 arrests, in addition to 54 from Bethlehem, 40 from Ramallah, 8 cases of arrests in Tubas, 9 people arrested in Tulkarem, 9 from Salfit, and 17 arrested in the city of Qalqilya.

The Ahrar center also reported that 38 arrests took place at military checkpoint around the West Bank. The famous cartoonist Mohammad Saba’na and two others were arrested at the Al-Karama checkpoint and two were arrested at Beit Hanoun on their way to treatment.

This month also saw a continuation of the IOF campaign of arresting political operatives, including the kidnapping of 3 elected officials, Ahmed Attoun, Hatem Qafisha, and Mohammed al-Tal.

The director of the Ahrar center, Fouad al-Khaffash, noted that these arrests are continuing daily and that the numbers in the report probably do not include all the arrests that were made, as it is likely there were arrests that were not documented.

He called on international institutions and human rights organizations to focus on the arrests of Palestinians and the illegality of their means that are used to arrest Palestinians, especially the use of administrative detention.

It should also be noted that the number of arrests rose significantly since January, when there were 350 arrests made. The report cited this as an example of an ongoing increase in vicious aggression shown by the IOF in all arenas.

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