Wow, Israel is pretty ticked off it seems...

quote:

Israelis abduct Hamas minister, MP, dozens of other members Compiled by Daily Star staff Israeli forces seized a Palestinian Cabinet minister and more than 30 other officials on Thursday in a new phase of a crackdown on Hamas that the United States and the United Nations said raised "concerns." EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called the Palestinian unity government non-functional Thursday as Hamas rejected a call for a truce with Israel from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Overnight, Israeli troops entered Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, and abducted Palestinian Education Minister Nasser al-Shaer of Hamas. They also seized at least three Hamas members of Parliament, the mayor and deputy mayor of Nablus and other Hamas officials in neighboring towns and villages. The Israeli Army said 33 people were held across the West Bank. Israel has been holding 40 Palestinian lawmakers from Hamas, including the Parliament speaker, Abdel-Aziz Dweik, rounded up over the past year. The United States had voiced its concern to Israel over the arrests, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said, adding that the detentions "raise particular concerns." France condemned the arrests, saying "they could jeopardize the future of the national unity government and the possibility of renewed negotiations between the parties." The new UN special envoy to the Middle East also voiced concern. "I'm troubled when I see Israeli soldiers arresting Palestinian legislators. I'm troubled that the education minister was arrested," Michael Williams told Reuters. Williams said it was of particular concern that few of those held since last year had been charged. Abbas said the arrests were a blow to peace efforts, and a spokesman for Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya demanded the immediate release of the detainees and called on the UN and European Union to impose sanctions on Israel. Solana met Abbas in Gaza Thursday and called for both sides to halt the violence. Asked if Israel's arrests of the Palestinian officials were justified, Solana said "No." Solana, speaking to Reuters and another news agency after talks with Abbas and Israeli leaders, said he did not know whether the current unity government had reached its "death." "But what it is is a nonfunctioning government," he said. Solana was noncommittal about whether the unity government should stay in power or be replaced, but he said the current situation was untenable. "It's important that a government takes care of the situation in Gaza ... This one or another," he said. A new cease-fire between Hamas and Fatah has taken hold but tensions remain high, particularly over Abbas' call for a halt to rocket attacks against southern Israeli towns. After talks with Solana, Abbas said that firing rockets into Israel "must be stopped" and that he hoped for a broader cease-fire. "We don't need these futile firings of rockets and they have to cease so that we can reach a reciprocal truce with the Israelis in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," Abbas said at a news conference with Solana. Sami Abu Zuhri of Hamas said Abbas' call for a halt to rockets showed that he did not back "resistance" and it "contradicted the Palestinians' consensus." Later Hamas said it fired another rocket into Israel. Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said the arrests were part of Israel's attempt to neutralize Hamas. "Arrests are better than shooting," he told Israel's Army Radio. "The arrest of these Hamas leaders sends a message to the military organizations that we demand that this firing [of rockets] stop." Hamas said in a statement: "The continued detention of lawmakers and ministers gives Hamas the right to use any means to free them ... Harming them will open the gates of hell." Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti appealed for international intervention after what he said were "kidnappings ... a massacre of Palestinian democracy and an aggression against the Palestinian Authority and its institutions." After nightfall, Israeli aircraft conducted two more strikes in Gaza, hitting positions used by Hamas fighters. Several passersby were wounded in the first. Casualties in the second were not clear. A farmer working in his field near Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip was killed by Israeli gunfire in the morning, residents and hospital officials said. Earlier, an Israeli air strike hit a car carrying Hamas members. Other strikes targeted offices of two money-changers close to Hamas. - Agencies

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