239 Palestinians were arrested in Jerusalem and the West Bank over the past week, reported the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club on Friday, August 15. 132 are from Jerusalem, 32 from Ramallah/al-Bireh, 25 from al-Khalil, 16 from Bethlehem, 10 from Nablus, 9 from Jenin, 5 from Salfit, 4 from Tulkarem, 3 from Tubas and 3 from Jericho areas. 366 Palestinians have been arrested by occupation forces to date in August.
Over 100 Palestinians from Jerusalem were arrested in two days, with raids throughout the area targeting Palestinian Jerusalemites in Sho’ufat, Beit Hanina and elsewhere.
On Thursday morning, August 14, 52 Palestinians from Jerusalem were arrested, following the arrest of 57 on the previous day. 20 more Palestinians were arrested in early morning raids in al-Khalil, Bethlehem and Jenin on Thursday, including four teenage boys – Haydar Hamamrah, Muhammad Hamamrah, Firas Hamamrah and Bakr Shawasha, all 16 and 17 – from the Bethehem area village of Husan, and Mohammed Melhem, 14, from Fasayel, near Jericho.
On Friday, 96 Palestinians from Jerusalem – 17 held in Ashkelon, 4 minors held in Ofek, and the rest held at al-Moskobiyeh detention center – were released on 5000-shekel bail (approximately $1435 US) and on five days house arrest.
Mass arrests of over 600 people have taken place in the Jerusalem area in the past 2 months, including a number of members of the Abu Khdeir family of Shou’fat, the relatives of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir, murdered and burned by Israeli settlers. Most have been arrested for participating in demonstrations against the settler attacks.
Ma’an news reported that among the released were: Ahmad Abu Khdeir, Abd al-Rahman Abu Khdeir, Rami Abu Khdeir, Amer Zidani, Mohammad Sarhan, Amro Abu Khdeir, Mohammad Abbasi, Ahed Abbasi Ziyad al-Qaq, Ali Abu Diab, Naim Hadiyeh, Mohammad Odeh, Luai Rajabi, Tariq Sarhan, Ahmad Awwad, Ali Hamdan, Hazim Castro, Ahmad Abu al-Hawa, Daoud Abbasi, Ihab Hamdan, Issam Najib, Fira Miraji, Mohammad Miraji, Nidal Froukh, Ali Sayyad, Hisham Qawasmeh, Awad Sabbagh, Ismail Ghteit, Awdi Odeh, Ammar Zaytoun, Thaer Abu Lafi, Jihad Mirii, Wisam Abu al-Hawa, Shihab Shweiki, Munir Abbasi, Fadi Arafeh, Anwar Arafeh, Adnan Shahwan, Mohammad Siyouri, Aed Abbasi, Radhi Abu Khdeir, Akram Fakhouri, Ghalib Abu Sneineh. Mahmoud Arnaout, Hassan Asim, Khalid Tawwash Nimr Basti, Rajab Abu Sneineh, Basim Basti, Mohammad Jabir, Wisam Nofel, Anas Afghani, Ramzi al-Rashq, Hamza Afghani, Abdullah Abu Diab, Amir Rajab, Samir Rajab, Khaldoun Ashmar, Mohammad Samman, Mohammad Ibrahim, Khadir Baaraani, Mahmoud Dweik, Mahmoud Shawish, Mustafa Natsheh, Mahmoud Natsheh, Mutaz Jabir, Mamdouh Halawani, Omar Ibrahim, Ayman Basti, Salih Tawwash, Ammar Husari, Munir Basti, Mohammad Obeid, Mustafa Ghanim, Taha Obeid, Salama Obeid, Dauod Mohammad, Yazan Obeid Moussa Hamdan, Mahmoud Hamdan and Nizar Hamdan.