Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH – Israeli security forces on early Monday arrested 21 members of Hamas movement, including two legislators, from various West Bank cities. Palestinian security sources said that the Hamas members and legislators were arrested in pre-dawn raids on their homes in the governorates of Nablus, Hebron, Jenin and Toubas. The sources said that the Israeli soldiers thoroughly searched their homes, their computers and the mobiles before being arrested. The Hamas' Change and Reform parliamentary bloc in the West Bank identified the lawmakers as Nizar Ramadan and Maher Bader. Their arrest brings the number of Palestinian legislators to 15 from Hamas, Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). It added that other detainees are university lecturers, students and political activists. The Israeli army spokesman's office said that the 21 Palestinians were wanted for Israeli security forces and all of the men were taken in for questioning by agents of Shin Bet, the Israeli internal intelligence. A Palestinian official said the “arrests are part of Israel's revolving door policy.” “Before implementing the second group of the Palestinian prisoners, the Israeli authorities will apprehend the same number, if not more.” The development came hours after the Israel Prison Service (IPS) publicized the names the 26 Palestinians to be released from Israeli jails on Tuesday, the second batch of pre-Oslo prisoners who are to be freed as part of the ongoing peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). All of the 26 prisoners on the IPS list were either convicted of murder or attempted murder. They have served between 19 and 28 years in Israeli jails. Twenty-one prisoners are from Gaza, while five hail from the West Bank. The names and ID numbers of the prisoners were listed alongside the names of their “victims”. The Israeli law stipulates that the names of the prisoners must be published 48 hours before their release on the IPS's website for appeals by families of “terror” victims. On Sunday, an Israeli ministerial committee headed by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu approved a list of the prisoners to be released in the second of a four-stage process by which 104 Palestinian prisoners will be sent to the PA as a measure for resuming peace talks. Issa Qaraqi', the Palestinian Minister of Detainees and Ex-detainees, said that the PA was not consulted beforehand about which prisoners were to be released, and that Israel decided on the list without PA consent. Qaraqi' said that the prisoners being released will receive a heroes' welcome, at an official ceremony on the night of Muqata'a in Ramallah.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will be in attendance. In the first stage of the release this past August, 26 Palestinians were freed. On July, Israel agreed to a four-stage release of 104 prisoners in order to facilitate the resumption of American-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Some 5,200 Palestinian and Arab prisoners remain in Israeli jails.
