Israeli Forces Arrest a Palestinian Man and His Son

27 August 2007

Bethlehem – Ma'an – Israeli forces on Monday afternoon arrested a Palestinian citizen along with his son, in Artas village south west of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.

Chief of the local popular committee for defending land and confronting settlement in Bethlehem district, Khalid Al-'Azza told Ma'an via telephone that the Israeli soldiers stormed into Wadi Amayrah. These are fields which belong to the village, and are under threat of being confiscated by Israel for the establishment of the separation wall. The soldiers seized Awad Abu Sway and his son after they tried to enter the area.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces arrested a Palestinian policeman on Monday at the Erez crossing when he attempted to return to the Gaza Strip.

Mahir Younis, 28, who serves with the Palestinian Authority police force in the West Bank, had not seen his family for six years. Israeli forces arrested him at Erez and took him to an unknown destination.

Also on Monday, Israeli forces released twenty-five-year-old Adil Mohammad Al- Hroub from Wadi Foukin, west of Bethlehem after 4 years of detention.

Al-Hroub was arrested for resisting the Israeli occupation. He spent most of his years in detention in the Negev prison.

Three other Palestinians have also been released from Israeli jails.

Basim Jabr Froukh from the town of Si'er, near Hebron, spent three years in Israeli jails. Two brothers from the same village were also released after being held for a year and a half.