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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israel arrests 50 Palestinian officials |
| 2007-03-08 |
| The Israeli army on Wednesday arrested more than 50 members of the Palestinian Authority’s military intelligence service in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Palestinian security officials said. About 100 army vehicles surrounded the military security headquarters, with troops threatening to open fire if those inside failed to leave the building, officials said. No one was hurt in the incident, they added. Palestinian Military Intelligence Director General Majed Faraj said the army had detained 55 members of his service and five other Palestinians in an adjacent building. Faraj said soldiers had opened fire and launched grenades before entering the building, where they ransacked offices and confiscated assault rifles and pistols he said were the legal property of his force. The Israeli army said it had arrested 18 wanted men. “The army arrested 18 Palestinians wanted for attacks and attempted kidnappings of Israeli soldiers and civilians,” an army spokesman said, adding that weapons and explosives were also seized. An Israeli security source said those arrested “were using the infrastructure of the Palestinian security services as a base to carry out their operations”. “The Palestinian Authority knew this and did nothing to fight their terrorist activities,” the source said. Palestinian security sources said some of those detained were on a list of more than 400 militants that Israel agreed not to pursue under a 2005 accord. |
| Posted by:Fred |