|
Israelis round up Hamas politicians in West Bank
Israeli troops detained 10 Hamas politicians from the occupied West Bank on Thursday in what the Islamist faction called a punitive round-up following Israel's failure to retrieve a captive soldier.Egyptian efforts to mediate the release of Gilad Shalit, held incommunicado by Hamas in the Gaza Strip since June 2006, collapsed this week when the Israelis ruled out its demand of amnesty for scores of jailed Palestinians militant chiefs. The impasse prompted a pledge by Israel to press the crippling Gaza blockade, as well as threats to toughen up conditions for some of the 11,000 Palestinians in its prisons. Thursday's detainees included 4 lawmakers from Hamas, which won a Palestinian election in early 2006 but was shunned by the West for rejecting peace with the Jewish state. Mahmoud Abbas, the U.S.-backed Palestinian president, dissolved a government alliance with Hamas when it seized control of Gaza in 2007. Posted by: ed 2009-03-19 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=265472 |