Israel continues to carry out a wave of arrests of Palestinians, including children, in an effort to crush Palestinian resistance and political opposition to the occupation.
In May 2021, at least 3,100 Palestinians in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and 1948 occupied territories were arrested during random and organised Israeli arrest campaigns, reported the Palestinian prisoners’ association Addameer in its report for the month.
The largest proportion of those arrests, 2,000, took place within Israel’s internationally recognised Green Line boundary following mass protests against Israeli raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque, the eviction of Palestinian residents from their homes in East Jerusalem, and clashes with Israeli settlers and forces.
“Similarly, in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem a campaign of arbitrary arrests led to over 1,100 arrests, including 180 children, and 42 women and girls. The highest of these arrests took place in Jerusalem, with 677 arrests,” reported Addameer.
At the beginning of May, 60 freed Palestinian prisoners, activists and politicians were targeted with 25 of those arrested transferred to administrative detention, or detention without trial.
Kaed Rajabi, 43, from Silwan in East Jerusalem, was one of those arrested and then subsequently freed several weeks ago after one week in Jerusalem’s notorious Moskobiya jail in West Jerusalem.
Israeli jails have become a second home for Rajabi, a married father of eight children whose life has involved a revolving door of various Israeli jails since he was 14 years old.
His jail terms have ranged from years, to months, and sometimes only days and he has experienced prison life in several Israeli detention facilities, including the Nafha, Gilboa, Shatta and Hasharon prisons.
He estimated he has spent a total of at least eight years in Israeli prisons because of his anti-occupation activity.
“My first arrest in 1992 was when I was 14 when I was sent to jail for five years for throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at Israeli settlers and organising protests,” Rajabi said.
“I was interrogated for 70 days straight in a chair with my handcuffed hands tied behind the back of the chair and my ankles tied to the legs of the chair. I was repeatedly punched, kicked and hit with clubs during hours of interrogation each day with some of the assaults causing me to bleed.
“Toilet breaks were limited and only when I was given food were my hands uncuffed, resulting in pain in my back and legs,” said Rajabi.
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