Palestinians riot in Jenin after terror activist’s arrest

Dozens of Palestinians rioted in response to the IDF’s arrest Wednesday morning of an Islamic Jihad leader in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

At least 150 protesters threw rocks, Molotov cocktails and burning tires at the soldiers throughout the raid of the Palestinian activist’s home, an IDF spokeswoman told The Times of Israel. The IDF responded with riot-control munitions, including tear gas canisters, the spokeswoman said.

Though the spokeswoman was not authorized to name the detained activist, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency identified him as Abed al-Halim Ezz al-Din, a convicted terrorist who was released from Israeli prison in 2012 after serving a five-and-a-half-year sentence. Ezz al-Din was convicted of planning a suicide attack that left five people dead and 35 injured at a Hadera market in 2005.

According to the report, soldiers in over 10 army jeeps entered Jenin before dawn in order to detain Ezz al-Din as well as another unnamed activist.

Separately, in Nablus IDF soldiers detained two Palestinians early Wednesday, among them Mohammad Anwar Muna, who works for the Iranian Quds Press, Ma’an reported. The soldiers confiscated Muna’s computer as well as his cell phone, the news agency said.

Quds Press issued a statement condemning the arrest as an “outrageous” and “unjustified” act of aggression and an infringement of freedom of expression. The statement urged Israeli authorities to release Muna immediately.

The IDF spokesman’s office confirmed that two arrests had taken place in Nablus but did not specify who the detainees were or what offenses they were suspected of committing.