Israeli police rounded up seven Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem on Tuesday, according to local residents.
The detainees include Maj.-Gen. Bilal Al-Natsheh, Secretary-General of the National People’s Congress — a security body affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), his assistants Emad Awad and Emad al-Ashhab, businessman Mustafa Abu Zahra,
journalist Tamer Obaidat and activist Rania Hatem, residents said.
According to witnesses, Israeli forces searched the detainees’ homes and confiscated laptop computers.
The reason of the arrests remains unclear.
The Israeli police said in a statement that it had detained “seven suspects from Jerusalem residents for violating the law implementing the interim agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” referring to the Oslo I Accord signed between the PLO and Israel in 1993.
For its part, PLO’s Commission of Detainees Affairs condemned the arrests, saying it aims at “undermining the official Palestinian presence in Jerusalem”.
Last month,
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