Israel arrests 4 Hamas members in West Bank

Israeli troops on Tuesday arrested four Hamas members, including an MP, in the northern West Bank, Palestinian security sources and officials from the Islamist group said. Hamas MP Nasser Abdel Jawwad was arrested in the early hours in Salfit, a town some 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Nablus, they said. Troops also arrested three other Hamas members in Nablus itself, they said naming them as Nawaf Amer, a journalist for the Al-Quds television channel, Fuad Khofash, director of the Ahrar centre for prisoners and human rights, and Firas Jarrar, a former prisoner. The army had no immediate comment on the arrests. The arrest of the MP from Salfit brings to 14 the number of Hamas parliamentarians detained by Israeli troops over the past eight months. It also raises to seven the number of Hamas MPs detained by the army since the Islamist movement signed a surprise reconciliation deal with its Fatah rivals at the end of April, in a move which was roundly condemned by Israel. Most of the Hamas MPs who have been picked up were among 64 of the group's members who were arrested during a major army sweep in summer 2006 after militants in Gaza snatched Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Shalit, now 24, is still being held in Gaza and attempts to broker a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas have led nowhere.