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<h1> Settler attacks and arrest campaign continue in Azzoun
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<p style="text-align: left;"><em>Ramallah, 13 February 2013</em> -
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=572">http://www.addameer.org/etemplate.php?id=572</a><br>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><br>
Addameer is deeply concerned by the escalation in settler’s attacks and
arrests by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the village of Azzoun,
located in the northern West Bank. Over the past few days nine young
men, including six children, have been arrested.</p>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">The recent
arrests came after Azzoun was attacked by a group of illegal Israeli
settlers on 9 and 10 of February. </span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">On 9 February
settlers twice attacked the village. At 7pm they first tried to attack
the home of a village member, before returning later that night at 9pm
to again attack the village. After IOF arrived violent clashes broke
out until 11.45pm, with IOF using tear gas, rubber bullets and sound
bombs. The following day 10 February a group of settlers again attacked
the village, closing off the main road for two hours.</span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">At 2.30am on
the morning of 11 February IOF raided the village and arrested nine
people, including 6 children, the youngest of which was just 12 years
old. Five of the nine youngsters have since been released.</span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"><span dir="LTR">As a further
punitive measure IOF have also closed off the main entrance of Azzoun
with concrete blocks forcing residents to walk six kilometers to get to
the other side. </span></div>
<div dir="RTL" style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">Azzoun, a village located just outside
of Qalqilia, has witnessed a spike in arrests, especially of youth and
children, in the past year. About 80 residents were arrested by the IOF
in 2012, of them 68 were youth under 18 years old. So far in 2013 25
residents of Azzoun have been arrested.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">During the arrests, children are treated
violently, including being handcuffed and subjected to intimidation and
in some cases beatings during interrogation. The residents spoke of
deliberate destruction of the contents of the homes during night raids,
sometimes with the aid of police dogs, in order to ruin the family’s
food and personal property.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">In November and December 2012 alone, the
IOF implemented curfews on ten different occasions, as well as
regularly blocked the main village entrance during the night raids.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">Addameer calls on the international
community to meet its obligations under the Geneva Conventions to
ensure that Israel abides by international law to protect the occupied
Palestinian population, and take action to ensure that all illegal
Israeli settlements are removed in accordance with international law.
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<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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