Israel rounds up 700 Jerusalemites, including 250 children, over past few months
A Jerusalem-based activist in prisoners affairs has slammed the Israeli occupation for stepping up its military grip and arbitrary mass-abduction campaigns against Jerusalemite youngsters.
Head of the committee of Jerusalemite Prisoners’ Families, Amjad Abu Asab, said: “At least 700 Jerusalemite young men have been kidnapped ever since Israelis killed Jerusalemite child Muhammad Abu Khdeir and waged their notorious offensive on the besieged Gaza Strip”
About 120 captives, among the newly captured youngsters, are still locked-up behind the bars of Israeli prisons, the rest being released under extremely harsh terms, including house confinement and steep fines.
Most of the arrests were carried out in Jerusalem’s Old City along with al-Issawia, al-Tour, Um Touba, and Shufa’at neighborhoods, Abu Asab added.
Some few weeks ago, the Israeli occupation authorities nabbed a total of 120 Palestinian youths from Occupied Jerusalem in no more than 24 hours’ time and dragged them all to Israeli investigation centers, he further reported.
According to the activist, 100 prisoners have been tried so far, on such fake charges as incitement, rioting, and stone hurling.
A large number of the captives include Jerusalemite boys below the age of 20, Abu Asab documented, declaring: “These children have been prevented from their right to study and live. Those who were released were either sentenced to house confinement, or to heavy fines, or to forced deportation.”
36 Jerusalemite prisoners, among a total of 270 held at Israeli prisons, are sentenced to life while five more others are sentenced to 20 years or more in prison. The detainees’ lists further include two ladies and 250 children.
Abu Asab found out evidence corroborating that such arbitrary mass-kidnap campaigns are tightly linked to Israel’s conspiracies against Muslim’s holy al-Aqsa Mosque. The campaign targeted scores of youngsters and sit-inners maintaining vigil in or around the compound.
Jerusalemite youngsters have also been subjected to forced deportation orders for extendable periods of six months and denied the right to get into holy al-Aqsa as part of Israel’s schemes to evacuate such areas and wipe out the typically Islamic character of Occupied Jerusalem.
The Israeli occupation authorities also impose financial compensations to be paid by Palestinians for any injuries or damage likely to be sustained by an Israeli settler or vehicle, head of the committee further charged.
Abu Asab has warned against Israel’s ever-mounting exploitation of potential Palestinian political vacuums to tighten grip on Occupied Jerusalem and its pro-prisoners’ institutions.
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