Israel kidnaps prominent Palestinian astrophysicist

A renowned Palestinian astrophysicist has been kidnapped by Israeli forces from the occupied West Bank, says a Palestinian prisoner solidarity group.   

Imad al-Barghouthi was detained at the Nabi Salih checkpoint northwest of Ramallah on Sunday, Samidoun reported on Tuesday.

The 53-year-old father of five teaches theoretical space plasma physics at al-Quds University in the occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem) town of Abu Dis.

His colleagues at the university have also confirmed his detention.   

Barghouthi formerly collaborated with NASA and has carried out research in the United States, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, and Sweden.

His family was notified of his arrest via a phone call from the Israeli military which refrained from giving them further information on the incident.

Barghouthi was previously detained in 2014 for unknown charges while attempting to enter Jordan to take part in a conference in the United Arab Emirates. 

He was released after spending over a month in administrative detention following outcries by the international scientific groups, including the French Association of Academics for the Respect of International Law in Palestine, the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine and the US-based Committee of Concerned Scientists.

The scientist told reporters at the time he had been detained over his stance over Israel’s summer war on the Gaza Strip and over his support for the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

After his release, he called on “the international community that spoke up on my behalf to speak up also on behalf of all Palestinian political prisoners.”

Some 11 Israeli jails hold over 7,000 Palestinian inmates, with dozens of them serving multiple life sentences. Over 700 detainees are under the so-called administrative detention, which is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for up to six months.

Israel’s devastating summer war in 2014 and two other military operations over the last six years have caused economic losses close to three times the size of Gaza's gross domestic product. The latest onslaught claimed the lives of over 2,200 Palestinians and left over half a million more displaced. It also severely damaged more than 20,000 homes, 148 schools, 15 hospitals, and 45 clinics. At least 247 factories and 300 commercial centers were rendered inoperable or totally destroyed in the attack.

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