Settler Militias Attack Palestinian Families as Israeli Forces Impose Curfew on Beit Ummar

Palestinian families in several areas of the occupied West Bank were attacked by settler militias on the third day of Eid al-Adha while Israeli forces continued to impose a curfew on the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, for the second day in a row.

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Haaretz

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that Israeli forces continued since Thursday evening to impose the curfew on Beit Ummar through Sunday, with tightened military measures including closing main and secondary roads with earthen barriers and bulldozing several of them, and activist Mohammed Awad said "about 30 roads were closed in the town."

Haaretz

In the same report, Awad said the Palestinian liaison informed Beit Ummar Municipality of the curfew from Thursday and that it would extend through Sunday, while he also pointed to occupation forces firing tear gas at Palestinian homes and dozens of cases of gas-related asphyxia.

The Jerusalem Governorate also reported that settlers assaulted Palestinian vehicles near the roundabout at the entrance to the town of Makhmas, north of occupied Jerusalem, by throwing stones and attempting to block their path, causing damage to several vehicles with no injuries recorded.

Separately, the Jerusalem Islamic Awqaf Department said about 60,000 worshippers prayed Friday at the Al-Aqsa Mosque despite the Israeli occupation measures, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.

A field report by Dimitri Krie, the special envoy of Le Nouvel Observateur, described Silwan in eastern Jerusalem as hundreds of Palestinians face the threat of losing their homes amid government-backed settlement expansion policy.

The report said demolition orders affect about 150 Palestinian homes in an area housing about 60,000 people, and it described a daily scene in which bulldozers demolish homes that have stood for decades and settlers raise Israeli flags over the seized houses.

Al-Jazeera Net

It centered on Amin Jalajal, 62, who received an order to demolish the home where he was born and remarked, "authorities say we do not have a building permit, but I was born in this house."

The report said the Jalajal family, which once owned six houses in the neighborhood, now has only one home left to house 96 people across several generations after the others were demolished, and it described the choice between demolishing the home themselves or paying 100,000 shekels (about 27,000 dollars) for the army to demolish it.

Wasim Siyaam, 37, was also cited as being forced to demolish his home with his own hands in compliance with an official order, and the report quoted him saying, "they have turned our lives into a hell."

The Saba news agency said Israeli forces arrested at least 21 Palestinian citizens, including freed prisoners and three brothers, during dawn raids early Monday morning in different areas of the occupied West Bank.

Saba reported that the Palestinian Prisoners Media Office said the arrests concentrated in the governorates of Qalqilya, Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tulkarm and Jenin, targeting several young men and freed prisoners, and it described the raids as following the assault and search of their homes and acts of violence against residents.

In Qalqilya, Saba said Israeli forces raided the city of Kafr Qaddum, east of the city, and arrested the brothers Badr, Osama and Luay Juma, brothers of prisoner Shadi Juma, for the fourth time in two weeks.

In Hebron Governorate, Saba said Israeli forces launched a wide campaign of arrests targeting nine Palestinians, including the freed prisoner Waheed Hamdi Abu Maria from Beit Ummar, and it listed other detainees including Hassan Fouad Abu Ayyash, Shadi Hatem Fawzi Abu Ayyash and Yousef Akhlil.

Saba concluded that the office stated Israeli occupation continues its policy of mass arrests of Palestinians, notably of freed prisoners and their families, as part of a policy of collective punishment and attempts to pressure and harass citizens in various regions of the West Bank.