According to Palestinian officials, the Israeli army has raided Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and arrested a 20-year-old man.

This Tuesday, the Israeli army raided Ramallah, the first such aggression the the Palestinian Authority stated that it would cease security coordination with Israel back in May.

According to Interior Ministry spokesman Ghassan Nimr, Israeli forces entered Ramallah just before dawn. He also said that three houses were searched in the area but no arrests were made.

Ramallah is a city relatively under Palestine’s control, and also where the Palestinian Army, or PA, has its main headquarters. However, the Israeli army has carried out several raids in the region.

The PA is legally obliged to inform Israel about any sort of armed resistance to the Israeli occupation, this being binding under the Oslo agreements of 1993 signed between Israel and Palestine. The practice is known as “security coordination”.

Activists for rights have consistently accused the PA of operating collectively with the Israeli occupation forces in order to oppress Palestinians.

According to a security source, Israeli soldiers arrested a 20-year-old man near the city in a refugee camp named Al-Amari. Residents of this refugee camp threw rocks in response to the Israeli raid as the Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at them.

Although the Israeli military confirmed that an arrest was in fact made at the refugee camp, a spokeswoman told AFP that the army did not enter Ramallah overnight.

Neither of the parties had conducted such raids since the Palestinian Army announced almost a month ago that it was ending security coordination with Israel.

The announcement came from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a response to Israel’s public plans to annex parts of the West Bank, including where Ramallah is located.

There are approximately 450,000 Israelis and 2.7 million Palestinians living in West Bank settlements seen as illegal under international law.

U.S. President Donald Trump proposed an alleged “peace plan” consisting of an annexation process, something the Israeli government has said could begin on July 1.

The Palestinians cut ties with Washington back in 2017 after the nation’s pro-Israel position, leading them to reject the previously mentioned initiative.

This Tuesday, human rights experts from the United Nations have stated that the annexation plan would violate international law.

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Sources: