Israeli brutality at a checkpoint near the Jordan Valley

Friday June 29, 2007 16:30 by Ali Samoudi - IMEMC News

Israeli assaults at checkpoints all over the West Bank have a terrible effect on the daily life of Palestinians. Such assaults are both numerous and wide-ranging in nature.

On Friday midday, an Israeli military force detained 20 laborers and farmers at a checkpoint near the Jordan Valley for four hours in temperatures exceeding 40°.

Mohammad Hamed, one of the detained persons, reported that the laborers and farmers were on their way to home by bus after finishing work when the army asked them to stop at the checkpoint. "They forced us to leave the bus and made us wait in the heat as they collected and checked our identity cards." The farmers were stopped despite being in possession of all the correct and relevant permission paper which should allow them to pass through checkpoint unhindered.

"Two hours later, 3 Israeli jeeps arrived. The soldiers surrounded us and put us in separate groups. They interrogated and assaulted us for no reason,” Hamed added.

The laborers stated that after being deliberately assaulted, they were forced to sit on the ground. "Some of us were forced to remove our clothes for a body search", the laborers stated.

After holding and subjecting the farmers to various forms of assault for four hours, the soldiers left, offering no explanation as to why the group had been detained or why such invasive and brutal methods of interrogation had been used.

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