At least 200 Palestinians from the West Bank's Jenin arrested in 2022: report

At least 200 Palestinians from the West Bank's Jenin arrested in 2022: report
The Palestinian Prisoners Club said in a statement that 200 Palestinians from Jenin and its surroundings so far this year, with 100 being arrested in March alone.
2 min read
10 April, 2022
Palestinians are subjected to routine arrests by Israeli forces as a means of intimidation [Getty]

At least 200 Palestinians from the Jenin governorate in the occupied West Bank have been arrested by Israeli forces since the beginning of the year, a report by the Palestinian Prisoners Club said on Saturday.

The highest number of those arrested was recorded in March amid a surge of violence in both Israel and the West Bank, where several people - mostly Palestinians - have been killed.

Some 100 Palestinians were arrested last month alone, the report said.

The arrests were concentrated in several towns around Jenin, as well as its refugee camp, which Israeli forces violently raid on a regular basis.

The report stated that most detainees were aged between 18 and 35, and were arrested on different occasions.

Several Palestinians were also arrested under Israel's collective punishment policy, which sees family members of alleged assailants detained and family homes demolishment.

Three Palestinian detainees have had their houses razed down this year, with Israeli forces planning on destroying the family home of a fourth prisoner.

Perspectives

The increase in arrests has been attributed to the aftermath of the Gilboa prison break last year, when six Palestinian prisoners escaped from a maximum-security prison through a tunnel.

Many of the escapees' family members were subsequently apprehended by Israeli police.

Detainees from the Jenin governorate in Israeli jails currently number at approximately 500, including three women and around 10 children, of whom 35 are political detainees.

Some 75 are serving life sentences, and 175 are in the process of being given lengthy sentences.

The number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons overall stands at nearly 4,500, also including women and children, according to prisoners rights groups.

Around 500 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in Israeli administrative detention without charge or trial.

Under the administrative detention order, Israel imprisons Palestinians for six months at a time - a period that is renewed indefinitely. Israel alleges that this method "prevents" the detainees from carrying out "possible future attacks", for which it lacks evidence that they plan or intend on doing.

Rights groups say such a system is abusive to Palestinians, accusing Tel Aviv of using it as means of intimidation and a quick and easy way to lock up Palestinians when authorities do not have sufficient evidence for an indictment.