Israeli occupation forces carried out a widespread raid campaign at dawn on Tuesday in various areas of Ramallah governorate, resulting in the arrest of four Palestinian women, including female students and graduates of Birzeit University. This step comes in the context of a systematic escalation targeting the student movement and Palestinian academic institutions, as the forces stormed the homes of the female students and their university dormitories before taking them to interrogation centers.
Birzeit University administration announced in an official statement the names of those arrested: Golan Abu Awad, Sama Safi, Natalia Abu Diyeh, in addition to graduate Laila Nael Khalil. The university condemned these measures, describing them as an attempt to disrupt the educational process and intimidate students, emphasizing their natural right to continue their education and live freely away from the continuous pursuits of the occupation.
In details of the raids, local sources reported that a military force stormed the town of Birzeit, north of Ramallah, where it raided the home of student Natalie Abu Diyeh's family, searched it, and tampered with its contents before arresting her. The raids also targeted the female students' dormitory in the same town, where student Golan Abu Awad was arrested, a scene that has been repeated frequently in recent months as part of targeting student frameworks and activists inside and around the university campus.
The pursuit operations extended to include the town of Beitunia, west of Ramallah, where occupation forces arrested young Laila Nael Khalil, a graduate of Birzeit University, after raiding her family's home and taking her to an unknown destination. In Ramallah city, the home of student Sama Safi's family was stormed and thoroughly searched, and the operation ended with her arrest and abduction amidst a state of anxiety among her family members and neighbors.
For its part, the Palestinian Football Association revealed additional details related to the detainee Natalie Abu Diyeh, indicating that she is a student in the media department and a former player in the Palestinian women's national team. The association explained in a comment that the occupation raided her residence, leaving behind her lecture notebooks and pens, a symbolic reference to the violations that obstruct the athletic and academic aspirations of Palestinian youth.
Human rights organizations believe that targeting student cadres primarily aims to eliminate student and political activity within universities, and to transform these institutions from spaces for expression into permanent military targets. These organizations affirm that the pursuit of female students falls within the policy of collective punishment practiced by the occupation against Palestinian society in all its segments, especially those influential in national consciousness.
In a related context, data from the Palestinian Prisoners' Club indicate a tragic reality experienced by female prisoners inside prisons, where their number has risen to 89 female prisoners under harsh detention conditions. These new arrests raise the total number of Palestinian prisoners to more than 9,600 prisoners, including hundreds of children and sick individuals, which calls for urgent international action to stop these continuous violations against civilians and students.
The occupation follows systematic policies targeting Palestinian education and students' right to complete their academic journey.
شارك برأيك
Occupation launches arrest campaign targeting female students and graduates from Birzeit University