JORDAN VALLEY (PIC)– Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided on Monday morning the Ain Al-Helwa region of the northern Jordan Valley before shutting down the area and demolishing Bedouin tents a few weeks after a similar operation in the locality.
According to local sources entire communities were leveled in the operation. Other destruction operations were recently carried out in Jericho along the Palestinian Jordan Valley.
IOF soldiers handed out during the last few days notifications to demolish structures and houses along the Jordan Valley in a clear attempt to displace the valley’s indigenous people the sources said.
In other developments IOF troops performed an airdrop operation from a helicopter in the Khullat al-Dhahab area of the Fari’a valley south of Tubas in addition to military exercises which lasted until early this morning. The IOF has marked the Jordan Valley “a closed military zone”.
Meanwhile the IOF troops launched at dawn today a campaign of arrests and raids that ended with rounding up 12 Palestinians in different parts of the West Bank.
The Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot reported on its website that the IOF soldiers arrested several Palestinians in the West Bank under the pretext that they were “wanted”.
The IOF makes daily arrests and raids in the West Bank in pursuit of Palestinian “militants” a practice which generally involves damage to private property questioning of relatives and other punitive measures.
In a related incident Israeli soldiers arrested early Monday two citizens from the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank while combing different parts of the area.
Amid clashes between Israeli troops and camp residents a group of young men hurled stones at the soldiers who responded with live bullets local sources said adding that Bahaa Hassan Abu Tabikh 20 and Mahmoud Ibrahim Sbareni 32 were arrested during the incident. No injuries were reported.
