The Palestinian sources said that 13 Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank town of Al-Dahriyeh, to the south of Hebron, three in Sa'ir, to the north of Hebron, four in Ni'lin, to the west of Ramallah, one in Jenin and another in Tammoun.
The sources added that 15 of them were arrested after the Israeli security forces carried a thorough search in their houses.
Israeli security sources told the Army Radio that the detainees were "wanted" by the Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet. The Israeli sources added that the 22 were taken to unknown locations for questioning.
Israeli defense establishment said the arrest campaigns in Palestinian cities are part of its war against Palestinian groups.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) said that the daily Israeli raids hinder its security forces to tighten their grip on the Palestinian territories.
Israel does not allow the PA to have any security role in specific areas in the West Bank that the 1993 Oslo peace agreement between the two sides classified as “C” areas.
According to the recent Palestinian statistics, there are 6,700 Palestinians currently held in 10 prisons and 3 detention camps in Israel and in the West Bank. There are 300 prisoners under the age of 18. Israel also holds 37 females and nine members of the Palestine Legislative Council.
The Palestinian statistics show that Israel issued 21,000 decisions of administrative detention against Palestinian activists since the start of second Intifada in 2000, of whom 195 are still being held in Israeli jails without being charged with any offence and have not faced trial.
Egypt and Germany mediated several rounds of talks between Hamas and Israeli government in late 2009 to discuss the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange with Palestinian prisoners.
The mediators failed to broker a deal because Hamas presented a list of 1,000 names of Palestinian and Arab prisoners and insisted that Israel free them, while the Israeli government wanted to expel and remove some of the names from the list.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing increasing pressure from Shalit's family, Israeli academics and public figures to step up negotiations for the release of the soldier.
For its part, the Israeli Transportation Ministry sent the Shalit family a letter summoning Gilad to renew his driver's license, as five years have passed since he issued it.
The letter, which was sent last month, also includes a warning that failure to follow the procedure within six months will cause the license's suspension. Sources from the Free Gilad campaign said Sunday the matter is clearly a misunderstanding caused by an automatic dispatch of the letter.
Nevertheless, a source in the campaign HQ noted cynically that efforts to release Gilad must now be expedited to prevent the license from being revoked.
