Details- Shabaneh couple arrest from their home…the husband gets deported from Jerusalem
On Thursday, Mrs. Umm Abed Shabaneh returned to her home alone, after the occupation authorities decided to deport her husband, Waheed Shabaneh, from Jerusalem to the West Bank, under the pretext of "illegal presence” in the city, after they were arrested from their home in the village of Al-Tur and detained for several hours in O’z police station.
Wahid Shabaneh, 51, has been living with his family in Jerusalem for years, but he does not have a Jerusalem identity, despite submitting 4 requests for "reunion", all of which were rejected, and his last file was closed in 2018. During the past months he was subjected to numerous prosecutions as the forces stormed his house and arrested him, until he was deported from Jerusalem.
Last February, the Israeli occupation forces stormed the house of Shabaneh and arrested him, then the occupation decided to release him, but on the condition that he be deported to the West Bank under the pretext of "illegal presence in the city." A police vehicle escorted him to Al-Zaytoona checkpoint, and this was repeated on Thursday.
In an interview with Mrs. Umm Abed Shabaneh, she told Wadi Hilweh Information Center: "After my husband was deported to Ramallah last February, he managed to return in Ramadan, and he stayed with us, because he was keen to be among us in the holy month, and he stayed with us until the forces stormed our home yesterday and re-arrested him and deported him from the city."
"My husband was born and raised in Jerusalem, and studied in its schools, but his father moved in the 1980s to reside in Ramallah after Waheed was arrested at the age of 14 and because of the occupation's pursuit of the family at the time."
She added: "Waheed was closely related to the city of Jerusalem and was keen to stay in the family home in the Old City, but he was missing his right to a Jerusalem identity."
Mrs. Umm Abed explained that he submitted a "request for family reunion" 4 times to the competent authorities, and every time he was rejected on the pretext of “security purposes” because he is a former prisoner who spent 4 years in the occupation prisons when he was a boy. In 2018, the file was closed for the last time claiming that it was incomplete, and the family did not know this until after reviewing the competent authorities through a new lawyer.
Umm Abed explained that they were arrested from their home and transferred to O’z police station in Jabal Al-Mukabber, and they were subjected to ill-treatment, and they stayed outside for hours waiting for entry to the investigation rooms despite the cold weather in the early morning hours, explaining that the forces released her without investigation, while Waheed was released at noon and taken to Al-Zaytoona checkpoint.
She said: "My husband was deprived of residence among his children, and he was deprived of his presence in the city in which where he lived and was raised, and he was deprived of his work and his livelihood, all under the pretext of illegal residency."
Shabaneh appealed to human rights organizations to intervene in order to return him to Jerusalem to be in his home and among his children. (Oldest is 22 years old and the youngest is 13 years old)
Wadi Hilweh Information Center learned that the occupation authorities launched a campaign of arrests at dawn Thursday against Palestinians on the pretext of the illegal presence in the city, including 4 sisters, 6 couples and workers from the West Bank. During the detention and investigation, the authorities checked the permits to enter Jerusalem and “reunion” applications.
The Information Center stated that the occupation authorities deported the wife of the freed prisoner, Ahmed Abu Ghazaleh, a few days ago, under the pretext of "illegal presence" in the city of Jerusalem.
