RAMALLAH: Israeli forces operating in West Bank cities on early Wednesday arrested 12 Palestinians, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said.
The Palestinian sources said that the 12 were arrested in Nablus, Ramallah, Jenin and Hebron. The sources said the Israeli soldiers searched their houses before the arrests.
Israeli security sources told the Army Radio the detainees were taken to unknown locations for questioning by the Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet.
The latest arrest campaign came a day after a Hamas official said that the negotiations between his movement and Israel on the swap of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit with Palestinian prisoners have collapsed due to policies set by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“As regarding negotiations, as of now the process has failed. The main cause, well known to everybody, well known to the mediator, is that after the interference of the political element, after the appearance of Netanyahu personally, there was a big regression and retraction,” Mahmoud Al-Zahar, a Gaza-based Hamas leader, told the BBC.
