Israel arrests Hamas official Hussein Abu Kweik

[ 01/06/2011 - 09:01 PM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- Israeli authorities detained noon Wednesday senior Hamas official Hussein Abu Kweik, 55, after summoning him for questioning to intelligence headquarters in the Israeli Ofer prison, Abu Kweik's wife has informed the PIC. Witnesses told our correspondent they saw Abu Kweik cuffed and blindfolded at around 1pm as he was being led to an unknown destination. Israel's intelligence agency Shin Bet called Abu Kweik's cell phone the night before and ordered him to appear at headquarters in the Ofer prison near Ramallah city. The Hamas leader told the PIC before meeting with the Shin Bet officials that Israel is targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials in a bid to suppress their influence in the West Bank and to torpedo the recent Palestinian reconciliation accord. He said Israel also wants to thwart Naksa day protests and Hamas’s recovery in the West Bank after the reconciliation. Abu Kweik has spent a total of 12 years detained in Israeli prisons. He survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 2002 that claimed the lives of his wife and three of his sons. The night before, Israeli authorities nabbed Palestinian Legislative Council member Nazar Ramadan while passing through the Container checkpoint that divides central and southern West Bank. The arrest came just hours after the arrest of PLC speaker Dr. Aziz Dweik and two more PLC members Anwar Zabboun and Bassem al-Zaarir for more than four hours. All have been released apart from MP Ramadan. The legislators were kept in isolation while being held.