Israeli police raid Palestinian martyr's house

Ramallah: Israeli Police raided very early on Wednesday morning the house of the Palestinian martyr Samer Sarhan who had been earlier killed by an Israeli guard.

Israeli police also searched the homes of his relatives in the Silwan neighbourhood in Occupied East Jerusalem where tens of Palestinians were arrested and taken by the Israeli forces.

Palestinians in Occupied Jerusalem said that at least 35 Palestinians had been confirmed arrested in Silwan, Baten Al Hawa, Wadi Helwa, Al Bustan and Ain Al Louzah.

Sources said Israeli Police beat up the martyr’s relatives when new clashes erupted in Silwan and Al Esawiyah in Occupied East Jerusalem. The Israeli forces had surrounded these Arab neighbourhoods in the east part of Occupied Jerusalem.

Zeyad Al Hamouri, who heads the [Occupied] Jerusalem Centre for Social and Economic Rights, said that the residents and human rights organisations in Occupied Jerusalem had been able to prove that the story of the colony guard who shot Samer Sarhan dead and seriously injured three other Palestinians, was false.

He stressed that the testimonies of the eyewitnesses and the records of the security cameras used on the streets of the neighbourhoods clearly showed that the guard’s testimony was wrong and that he was not in a position to put his life at risk. But he moved freely and chased the Palestinians who threw stones at the Israeli police.

He added that the guard, who was granted bail by an Israeli court under the pretext that he was put in a life-threatening situation, was incorrect and that he deliberately shot Samer dead and injured three other Palestinians and fled the scene freely.

Other sources in Occupied Jerusalem said they assumed that the testimonies of those who witnessed the assassination of Samer Sarhan and the security camera films had motivated the Israeli police to raid the home of the late martyr and those of his relatives as punishment. The police were also in search of evidence to be presented in court in a bid to indict the guard and the Israeli police.

The fact that the sources said the relatives of Samer Sarhan were beaten up by the Israeli Police was yet further proof of this assumption. Some of them were also arrested for further investigations in a bid to gather as much evidence as possible to be able to charge the guard with assassination of the Samer.

Once the residents of Silwan were aware the Israeli police had raided the house of the martyr and his relatives, groups of Palestinians took to the streets and clashed with the Israeli Police who used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse them. Israeli Police occupied the tops of several buildings in the area and other Arab neighbourhoods to monitor conditions and devise a strategy to handle the potential situation.

The heads of several human rights groups stressed that the Israeli police had used excessive and unjustified force against the Palestinians who suffered at the receiving end of an unprecedented, violent campaign mainly by the colonists who have been taking over their homes and lands and demolishing their properties.

Al Hamoursi said that the continuation of such clashes in Occupied Jerusalem could lead to something in the near future. Groups of colonists raided the courts of Al Aqsa Mosque Compound, and walked through it under the full protection of the Israeli Police

The sources said that the Israeli police had been allowing colonists into the mosque in groups where they walked through it. It was not clear why the Israeli police had allowed the colonists to tour the mosque.

However the visits sounded an alarm for the Palestinians that Al Aqsa Mosque was under serious threat, especially given the fact that the Israelis were allowed into the mosque to perform rituals, which the Palestinians would never have allowed in their sacred place.