Israel arrests prominent Palestinian peace campaigner

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said border police on patrol near Al Quds University chased four Palestinian workers who refused to present their documents. The men fled to the university's administration building, where Nusseibeh told the police he was responsible for the men, Ben-Ruby said.

The police arrested Nusseibeh along with the four workers, he said. Nusseibeh was not charged and was released after about five hours in custody on $1,100 bail.

After his release, Nusseibeh said he had been arrested because police claimed there were illegal workers from the West Bank on Al Quds' campus in Jerusalem.

"They made me spend all this time this morning just to tell them I had no idea about it," he told reporters.

Nusseibeh, president of Al Quds, has been working to gather support for a peace plan he put together with Ami Ayalon, former chief of Israel's Shin Bet security service. The plan envisions a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and the two have collected tens of thousands of signatures supporting it.

"Sari Nusseibeh is a public figure, and before you arrest him, you have to ask yourself twice, whether or not it's the right time to arrest him," Ayalon told Israel Radio.

The plan has gained international prominence, with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan endorsing it and Secretary of State Colin Powell meeting with Nusseibeh and Ayalon last year to give them encouragement.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Paul Patin said U.S. officials were aware of Nusseibeh's arrest "and we're trying to find out what's going on."

Nusseibeh's spokesman, Dimitri Diliani, said Nusseibeh was in his office Wednesday morning when Israeli border police arrived on campus and told him he was under arrest.

"When he asked why, they told him he would find out later," Diliani said. "They didn't say where he was being taken."

Diliani said he saw the border police jeep drive Nusseibeh to a detention center in northern Jerusalem.

Nusseibeh's lawyer, Jawad Bolous, said the police had initially refused to let him see his client. He was later allowed to meet with Nusseibeh, who told him he had yet to be questioned more than 21/2 hours after his arrest.

Also Wednesday, four Israeli soldiers were wounded when a vehicle disguised as an Israeli jeep and loaded with explosives blew up near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip, the military said.

The jeep exploded after the soldiers noticed the suspicious vehicle and shot at it, the military said. Two of the wounded were in critical condition.

The militant Hamas group took responsibility for the attack. It said the jeep was driven by Tareq Hamid, 23, from the nearby Nusseirat refugee camp, who was killed in the explosion.

The militant group said the attack, which used 550 pounds of explosives, was in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hamas leaders Abdel Aziz Rantisi and Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

The Islamic militant group, responsible for scores of attacks against Israel over the past 31/2 years of violence, wants to see the Jewish state replaced with an Islamic state.

Israel has targeted Hamas leaders in advance of a proposed pullout from the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Tuesday that Israel's response to Palestinian violence would be even harsher after a pullout.

Sharon's statement in a television interview appeared aimed at persuading members of his hawkish Likud Party to support his "disengagement" plan in a referendum Sunday.

Opponents say the plan is a "reward for terror."

Protesting the plan Tuesday, tens of thousands of Israelis streamed to Gush Katif, a bloc of Jewish settlements in Gaza, to celebrate Israel's independence day. Many arrived in buses provided by the settlers, while others, including many teenagers, marched along the heavily guarded road between Israel and the settlements.

Some Likud party members have difficulty accepting Sharon's sudden policy change -- he and the Likud have been the backbone of the settlement movement for decades.

Sharon warned Likud skeptics that rejecting the plan would also negate U.S. guarantees that Israel could keep parts of the West Bank and deny entry to Palestinian refugees.

If the plan is voted down, "I would see it as a victory for (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat and Hamas. It would harm relations with the United States and would damage the reputation of President Bush," he said in an interview on Channel Two TV.

After a pullout, Palestinians could no longer explain violence by saying that Israel was occupying their land, Sharon told Channel 10, "and Israel's responses (to violence) would be much harsher."

He refused to give specifics, beyond noting that Israel is already taking stiff measures, an apparent reference to the killing of Hamas leaders.

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Israel arrests for several hours leading Palestinian peace campaigner as three Palestinians nabbed in West Bank

Israeli police arrested and then released leading Palestinian moderate and peace campaigner Sari Nusseibeh on Wednesday morning, accusing him of hiring "illegal" Palestinian laborers to work at the university he heads.

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said border police on patrol stopped to check the documents of four Palestinian workers at Al Quds University that they believed to be what they termed "illegal".

The workers fled to the university's administration building, and Nusseibeh came out and told the police he was responsible for the men, Ben-Ruby said.

The police arrested all five, he said. After several hours, he was freed.

Nusseibeh, president of the Jerusalem university, has been working to gather support for a peace plan he put together with Ami Ayalon, former chief of Israel's Shin Bet security service. The plan envisions a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and the two have collected tens of thousands of signatures supporting it.

The grassroots plan has gained international prominence, with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan endorsing it and US Secretary of State Colin Powell meeting with Nusseibeh and Ayalon last year to give them encouragement.

Before his release, Nusseibeh's spokesman, Dimitri Diliani, said Nusseibeh was in his office Wednesday morning when Israeli border police arrived on campus and told him he was under arrest.

"When he asked why, they told him he would find out later," Diliani said. "They didn't say where he was being taken."

Diliani said he saw the border police jeep drive Nusseibeh to a detention center in northern Jerusalem.

For his part, Nusseibeh's lawyer, Jawad Bolous, said the police had initially refused to let him see his client. He was later allowed to meet with Nusseibeh, who told him he had yet to be questioned more than 2 1/2 hours after his arrest.

Israel's Labor Party lawmaker Yuli Tamir also came to the detention center to work for Nusseibeh's release.

Elsewhere, in a fresh incursion into Bethlehem Wednesday morning, Israeli soldiers, accompanied by tanks and military jeeps, stormed the “Wadi Shaheen” neighborhood and afterwards blockaded several houses, where Palestinian citizen Essa Dakhel Allah, 25, was arrested. He was led to an undisclosed place.

Meanwhile, in Tulkarem, Israeli troops arrested overnight Palestinian Lauí Hamarsha from the Tulkarem refugee camp, according to Palestinian security sources.

The Palestinian security directorate reported that an Israeli military troop broke into several citizens’ houses, where Hamarsha was arrested and was later led to an undisclosed destination. According to WAFA, Wa'el al-Madani from the city was also arrested and taken to an undisclosed location.

In Jenin, in northern West Bank, Israeli forces imposed a tight curfew on the town of Ya'bad southwest of the city, witnesses said, cited by WAFA news agency. They said that the Israeli army incurred into the town and announced by megaphones that a curfew is imposed until further notice.

In the meantime, Israeli military naval boats opened Tuesday a hail of gun fire towards Palestinian fishing boats at the Al-Sudania area, northwest of Gaza city.
Palestinian security sources said that there were casualties.

Elsewhere, five dunums of wheat and grain were set on fire Tuesday as well, east of Al Burij, located in the middle of the Gaza Strip. (Albawaba.com)

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