‘Declaration of war’: Palestinians denounce mass arrests in Israel Al-Aqsa Mosque News

Israeli police in the coming days have announced plans to arrest hundreds of Palestinian civilians for taking part in the last pro-Palestinian sit-ins in the occupied and besieged East Gaza Strip.

The wave of mass arrests will take place within what police called “the law and order of operation.” In demonstrations against the violence of the settlers, Israeli forces want to punish them for their crackdown on the Al-Aqsa mosque and against the military. 11 days of bombing The Gaza campaign killed 248 people.

In a statement on Sunday night, Israeli police said 1,550 people had been arrested since May 9 and that the campaign is a “follow-up” aimed at “judging” protesters who have taken to the streets in towns and cities across Israel in the past two weeks.

Thousands of security forces from “all units” will be deployed to conduct raids in towns and cities dominated by Israeli Palestinian citizens, in cities that make up about 20% of the country’s population.

These arrests by Israeli police tonight are in Lydden. Another 48 hours are planned against the Palestinians in the next 48 hours.
They want to humiliate and intimidate people by “disciplining” them and accepting their addiction.
Don’t keep quiet about this.pic.twitter.com/wQRop4gG4U

– Abir Kopty (birAbirKopty) May 23, 2021

The statement did not say that the campaign would be aimed at Jewish settlers he attacked the Palestinians and their homes, as documented in videos and images that are widespread on social media.

Police – including border guards and reserve brigades – will search the houses and conduct “investigations” until allegations are made and prison sentences are imposed, he added.

Adalah, the Israeli director general of the Legal Center for Minority Rights in Alava, described the campaign as a “war” against Palestinian protesters, political activists and minors.

The mass arrest operation is a “militarized war against Palestinian Israeli citizens,” Jabareen said in a statement sent to Al Jazeera on Monday, calling for a “rapid response” from the Palestinian political movement, parties and the Supreme Monitoring Commission. For the Arab Citizens of Israel.

The purpose of the arrests is to “intimidate and avenge Israeli Palestinian citizens – to ‘fix the score’ with the Palestinians, in the words of the Israeli police – for their political positions and activities,” he said.

The protests were interrupted

Gatherings began in cities such as Haifa, Yafa, Lydd and Nazareth earlier this month in immediate solidarity with Palestinian families. expulsion from home in Sheikh Jarrah.

During the sit-ins, several Palestinians were attacked by Jewish settlers, sometimes protected by Israeli police, who marched through the streets shouting anti-Palestinian slogans, including “death to the Arabs”.

Others were killed as demonstrations were growing rapidly following Israeli forces attack on worshipers Al-Aqsa in the mosque complex and then the Israeli military attack on Gaza.

On May 10, a Palestinian neighbor was shot dead by a Jewish settler in a far-right troop. And on May 19, Mohammed Kiwan, 17, was wounded in the town of Umm al-Fahem after being shot in the head by Israeli police.

Dozens of others have been arrested, some still awaiting formal charges.

So far, 140 charges have been filed against 230 people, most of whom are Palestinians, as well as minors, local media reported. They have been charged with assaulting police, endangering the lives of citizens on the street, holding demonstrations, throwing stones and setting fire to them.

‘I didn’t want to go home’

In Yafan, Bashar Ali, a 25-year-old university student, was among the 1,550 arrested in the past two weeks.

He was with a group of protesters who suffered from inhaling beatings and tear gas after protesting the May 11 Israeli bombing and the siege of Gaza.

“It was a peaceful seat for about 250 people,” Ali said. “Some of us were working to raise money for the wounded in Jerusalem and Gaza.”

After gathering in a park in the Yafa community for nearly two hours, protesters began making their way home around 6:30 p.m., but police blocked the main streets.

“They didn’t want to go home. Some policemen started attacking, I saw an elderly man and a young lady being beaten, ”Ali recalled.

“We confronted them and then a group of armed police gathered and arrested me along with several other friends,” he added.

Ali was released the next day, but has now been under house arrest for a month. He is currently in Kokab, a town in al-Jalil (Galilee), where six people have been arrested since the night.

‘Big miscalculation’

Meanwhile, Israeli parliamentary list leader Ahmed Tibi, the Palestinian-majority electoral pact, said Israel does not expect Israeli Palestinian citizens to rally in favor of others in Jerusalem and Gaza.

The “main miscalculation” of the Israeli police has occurred, although it is not the first time that Israeli Palestinian citizens have met against Israeli policies in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the occupied territories.

In the final round of sit-ins, police “lost control” within Israel, Tibik said he described the latest campaign as a “show” and the Israeli police made an offer to claim control at the expense of the Palestinian people.

“It is a miserable attempt to intimidate our youth to prevent them from exercising their right to give their opinion,” he said.

A Haifa activist Majd Kayyal came.

“Israeli police lost the ability to intimidate and intimidate Palestinians. That’s why they launched this campaign, ”he told Al Jazeera.

Kayyal said more than 500 Palestinian homes are expected to be searched in the next 48 hours, citing Israeli police and media reports.

“They want to bring back that feeling of panic in us, to teach us a lesson. But they also want to break the Palestinian unity – that is the uprising. “

Meanwhile, Israeli Palestinians have spread calls to take action on social media – there are 1.8 million people – many have even described the ad as a “declaration of war”.

Palestinian Israeli citizens have long been discriminated against in many aspects of life, including the right to a fair trial.

According to Kayyal, the protests are not enough to stop the cycle of violence.

“We need to start a new chapter for the Palestinians within Israel. We need to undo and undo Israel’s fragmentation policy [of Palestinians under its control], ”he said.

“Our struggle as Palestinian citizens of Israel is part of the collective struggle of the Palestinian people against the colonial project of the Israeli settlers.”