Israeli army continues to enforce curfew on Howwara town near Nablus

Monday April 23, 2007 13:03

by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

For the second consecutive day the Israeli army continued to enforce a curfew on the town of Howwara, south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus on Monday, leading to the confinement of hundreds of Palestinian families to their homes.

photo by RJI - Nablus

Israeli military vehicles were seen driving around the town. They forced shops to close and did not allow school students to get to their schools.

The Israeli army had invaded the town on Sunday and directly imposed a curfew in the town. Also on Monday morning, and despite an Israeli high court ruling banning the use of Palestinians as human shields, the Israeli army forced Palestinian civilians to walk in front of their military vehicles as they invaded several West Bank areas.

Eyewitnesses in Balata refugee camp near Nablus reported that Israeli troops used Mahmoud Ji'arim, from the camp, as a human shield on Monday morning. J'iarim was forced to walk with the soldiers as they went around the camp and kidnapped five Palestinians.

Eyewitnesses said that troops invaded the camp and Al-Dahiya neighborhood in Nablus and took prisoner Abdul Rahman Al-Qani, Mahmoud Al-Sahli, Mohammad Hamid, Ghassan Abu Hamada and Mohammad Abdul Ghani.

In March, Israeli troops were video-taped using Palestinian civilians as human shields despite objections by International Human Rights Organizations and the ruling of the Israeli court of Justice, who illegalized the usage of civilians in military operations.