Two top Paleostinian officials nabbed
Please don't kill me!
by Israeli forces over the weekend were held on suspicion helping abduct a Paleostinian resident of Jerusalem, who was also a US citizen, their lawyers said on Sunday.
Israeli forces arrested Paleostinian Authority Jerusalem Governor Adnan Ghaith and Jihad Faqih, the Jerusalem director of the PA General Intelligence Services, on Saturday, but declined to say why.
However,
those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things...
they are suspected of having assisted in abducting a resident of Jerusalem two weeks ago, who has since been held by the Paleostinian Authority in the West Bank, their lawyers told the Rooters news agency. Both men deny the charges.
Hadashot news reported that the man who had been kidnapped was wanted by the Paleostinians for selling an Arab property in Jerusalem’s Old City to Jewish investors.
The Paleostinians frequently hand out the death penalty
to those convicted of selling land to Israelis though PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...has not authorized the implementation of executions since his election in 2004.
Instead, he has proscribed a sentence of hard labor for life on "anyone diverting, renting or selling land to an enemy state or one of its subjects."
The report said the kidnapped man was a Jerusalem Arab with an Israeli identity card and was also a US citizen.
Asked about the report, a US embassy spokesperson told Rooters that they were aware of the incident.
"We are aware of reports that a US citizen has been detained by the Paleostinian Authority. When a U.S. citizen is incarcerated or detained overseas, the Department of State works to provide all appropriate consular assistance," the official said.
A large group of Israeli security forces nabbed Ghaith on his way out of a family member’s wedding in Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina neighborhood, his brother Hani Ghaith said.
A spokesperson for the Shin Bet security service referred questions to the Israel Police.
Mickey Rosenfeld, a front man for the Israel Police, said, "Two people were arrested and there is an ongoing investigation taking place."
Rosenfeld declined to confirm if Ghaith was one of the two people he said were arrested or provide any other details.
In late August, Abbas appointed Ghaith, a resident of Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood and a longtime Fatah activist, to the largely ceremonial role of PA Jerusalem governor.
In his new role, Ghaith is responsible for overseeing the PA’s operations in the neighborhoods within its jurisdiction on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Israel seldom arrests high-ranking PA officials.
However,
those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things...
Israeli security forces have arrested Ghaith many times in the past several years including on suspicion of incitement, his brother Hani said.
Eyewitnesses said security forces arrested Faqih near al-Judeira, a village in the central West Bank, and brought him to a detention center in Jerusalem, according to the Wafa report.
Adnan al-Husseini, a Paleostine Liberation Organization Executive Committee member and a former PA Jerusalem governor, condemned the arrests of Ghaith and Faqih, contending that they "target the Paleostinian presence in Jerusalem," Wafa reported.
Husseini called on the international community to intervene to secure the two PA officials’ release.
Yousif Mahmoud, a front man for the PA government, described the arrests as "a new crime at the expense of our people, its leadership and its eternal capital," Wafa reported.