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Four residents of Ni'ilin have been arrested last night during a military incursion into the West Bank village. Four others, who were not home at the time of the raid surrendered themselves in the morning. These recent arrests are a part of a concerted assault on the popular movement and the arrest of three prominent organizers from the village last Wednesday.

At around 3:00am tonight, a large military force invaded the village of
Ni'ilin to stage mass arrests of residents suspected of participating in
demonstrations against the Wall. During the incursion, over ten houses
were raided and ransacked.

Tonight's raid is the 13th staged in the village since 16 December. In
this period alone, 16 of the village's residents have been detained on
various charges relating to anti-Wall protests, including three
prominent organizers last Wednesday. Since May 2008, when demonstrations
in the village began, 106 arrests of Palestinian anti-Wall activists
have been made in Ni'ilin.

The arrests today are an escalation of an ongoing and extensive Israeli
attempt to suppress the Palestinian popular resistance. Similar raids to
the ones conducted in Ni'ilin have also been conducted in the village of
Bil'in – where 34 residents have been arrested in the past six months,
and the cities of Nablus, Ramallah and East Jerusalem.
 

Among those arrested in the recent campaign are also five members of the
Bil'in Popular Committee, all suspected of incitement, and include Adeeb
Abu Rahmah - who is already held in detention for over six months, and
Abdallah Abu Rahmah – the Bil'in Popular Committee coordinator.

Prominent grassroots activists Jamal Jum'a (East Jerusalem) and Mohammed
Othman (Jayyous) of the Stop the Wall NGO, involved in anti-Wall and
boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigning, have recently been
released from detention after being incarcerated for long periods based
on secret evidence and with no charges brought against them.

Mohammed Khatib, coordinator of the Popular Struggle Coordination
Committee said that "The arrests and persecution will not break our
spirit. They are afraid because our movement of simple, unarmed
civilians sheds light on their violence, on the injustice of the
occupation. No prison wall could hide this truth”.

www.popularstruggle.org/content/eight-arrested-following-night-raid-niilin