Israel kidnaps Palestinian governor of occupied Jerusalem al-Quds

JERUSALEM (Agencies): Israeli forces have once again detained the Pales-tinian governor of occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, marking the seventh time Adnan Ghaith has been arrested in less than 18 months.

Palestinian local sources, requesting not to be named, said Israeli troops stormed the house of Ghaith in Silwan neighborhood on the outskirts of the Old City of occupied Jerusalem al-Quds on Sunday and detained him.

A video circulating on social media showed Ghaith, wearing rubber gloves and smoking a cigarette, being escorted by Israeli forces after his arrest.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP that Ghaith was detained “for Palestinian activity” in occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, “which is illegal”, without providing any further details.

The PA official has been detained several times since his appointment as governor of Jerusalem al-Quds in June 2018.

Israeli forces arrested Ghaith on October 14 after carrying out a dawn raid at his home in Silwan. Pictures emerged on social media, showing heavily armed Israeli forces arresting Ghaith inside his home.

On September 25, Israeli forces summoned Ghaith to appear for questioning on suspicion of breaking an Israeli law that bans activities by the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem al-Quds.

Israeli authorities also presented his family with the summons and asked his son to appear before Israeli intelligence for questioning.

Israeli forces had again arrested Ghaith back on February 27. He was among 21 Palestinian officials rounded up in overnight raids in occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds, Ma’an news agency reported at the time.

Last December, Ghaith was placed under house arrest and was later banned from entering the West Bank for a six-month period.

Jerusalem al-Quds remains at the heart of the decades-long Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Palestinians want the occupied West Bank as part of their future independent state, and hope that East Jerusalem al-Quds – under Israel’s occupation since 1967 – will one day serve as the capital of their future sovereign state.

More than 7,000 Palestinians are reportedly held at Israeli jails. Hundreds of the inmates have apparently been incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention, a policy under which Palestinian inmates are kept in Israeli detention facilities without trial or charge.

Some Palestinian prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to eleven years.

Palestinian inmates regularly stage hunger strikes in protest at the administrative detention policy and their harsh prison conditions in Israeli jails.