Israeli forces seize PFLP members in Nablus raid

Nablus – Ma’an – The Israeli army seized several members of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during an incursion in the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday night, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources.




PFLP sources linked the operation to the negotiations toward a potential prisoner swap which could involve the release of the party’s secretary general, Ahmad Sa’adat, from an Israeli prison.



The sources said Mussa Salama, 47, and Wa’el Al-Faqeeh Abu As-Sabe, 45, were both from north of Nablus. Another PFLP affiliate, Ziad As-Sal’ous, was detained at the Huwwara military checkpoint while returning to Nablus from Ramallah.



Maysar Itiany, 45, an activist in prisoner and human rights, and her brother Abdul-Nasser Itiany, 38, were seized from their home in the Rafidiya neighborhood of Nablus.



Palestinian sources in Al-Ein Refugee Camp in Nablus said Israeli forces entered the camp and detained a number of young PFLP supporters. The detainees were identified as Mahmud Suleiman, Muhammad Ibrahim Dahbour, Yousef Rajab, and Rabi Abu Khalifa.



Israeli forces also raided the village of Awarta, sources said, and detained Nabih Abdul-Aziz Awwad, 47, from his house. Awwad works in the local Palestinian Authority government and is a supporter of the PFLP.



The Israeli military said it detained 14 people from the West Bank on Tuesday night. Military sources told Israel Radio that Israeli soldiers found guns and ammunition in a house during the operation in Nablus.



Palestinian security officials confirmed that a number Israeli military jeeps entered Nablus after midnight. Israeli soldiers raided a number of houses in the city, the security sources said.



Separately the Palestinian Authority’s police department said Israeli soldiers detained two students from near Bethlehem.



The media office of the PA police department said Israeli forces entered the town of Ubeidiya, east of Bethlehem, and set up a checkpoint on a road leading to the As-Sawahreh neighborhood.



The soldiers arrested Walid Farid Ar-Rajee and Ubeida Khaled Abu Arqub after stopping their car and checking their IDs, the police report said. The two Al-Quds University students are being held in an unknown location.



Israeli soldiers in armored vehicles also entered the town of Beit Sahour, west of Bethlehem and searched several houses, according to PA security sources.



The sources said soldiers delivered papers summoning some residents to be interrogated at a military installation called Kfar Etzion, in a nearby Israeli settlement. No detentions were reported.