Conflicts & War

Israel launches wave of mass arrests over recent unrest

Jerusalem, May 24 (EFE).- Israeli police began a campaign of mass arrests last night, largely implicating Israeli Arabs, in response to the recent unrest that erupted in parts of Jerusalem and mixed cities in Israel, local media and civil organizations said Monday.

“The massive arrest campaign announced by Israeli police last night is a militarized war against Palestinian citizens of Israel that requires a rapid response from all Palestinian political movements, parties, and from the High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel,” said Hassan Jabereen, human rights lawyer and general director of Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

“This is a war against Palestinian demonstrators, political activists, and minors, employing massive Israeli police forces to raid the homes of Palestinian citizens,” he added in a statement.

In a statement, Israeli police said they had detained more than 1,500 people over the past few weeks, without providing details about their origin, although local media reported that most were Palestinian, either with Israeli citizenship or residency rights.

The public prosecutor office has accused around 230 people, including Arabs and Jews, of a number of crimes related to the disturbances that erupted earlier this month.

The mass arrest campaign has been approved by public security minister Amir Ohana and chief of police Ranz Kobi Shabtai.

Israeli Arab and Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets of occupied East Jerusalem and mixed cities in large crowds at the beginning of Ramadan as tensions boiled over following clashes as the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and later Israel’s conflict with Hamas militants in Gaza.  EFE

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