The Ofer Military Court in the West Bank on Tuesday ordered senior Hamas official and Palestinian Parliament Speaker Aziz Dweik to spend six months in administrative detention, a measure that places him in jail without trial. Israel Defense Forces soldiers arrested Dweik last week at a checkpoint on suspicion of involvement in terror activities. Dweik was convicted in 2008 on charges of being a member of a terrorist organization, and was sentenced to three years in prison with two years of probation. Palestinians media reported that when Dweik arrived at the Jaba checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem last week, soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded him and another man who was with him. Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) agents who were called to the scene then took Dweik in for questioning and released the man who was with him. "The arrest was intended to prevent Dweik from taking part in a Palestinian parliamentary assembly next month and to thwart internal Palestinian political processes," Dweik's office said in response to his arrest, adding that Israel was trying to undermine Hamas-Fatah reconciliation efforts. Hamas has called on the Arab League and the international community to pressure Israel to release him. Dweik's prison sentence follows the IDF's arrest earlier this week of another Hamas parliament member in the West Bank and two senior Hamas members at an International Committee of the Red Cross building in east Jerusalem. The Islamic group said in a text-messaged statement that Abdel Jaber Fuqaha was taken from his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah early Tuesday. Hamas says Fuqaha is the fifth Hamas lawmaker to be arrested since last week. Hamas says 24 of its 45 Legislative Council members from the West Bank are currently in Israeli detention. The group won the 2006 parliamentary elections, defeating the Fatah movement headed by Western-backed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The two Hamas members arrested at the Red Cross building, Palestinian lawmaker Mohammed Totah and Khaled Abu Arafah, a former cabinet minister, face possible expulsion from the city when they appear before an Israeli judge this week, Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The ICRC confirmed the arrests and said that as east Jerusalem was considered occupied territory under international law, Israel was not allowed to forcibly transfer Palestinians. "It will not be in accordance with international humanitarian law" to deport the men, ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan said in Geneva. Israel revoked Totahs and Arafah's Jerusalem residency permits in July 2010, a step it has also taken against other Hamas members. "Two Hamas activists were arrested at the Red Cross building. They were hiding in the building for a year and a half after their ID cards were revoked on suspicions of being active in terrorist activity," Rosenfeld said. Hamas condemned the arrests as kidnapping by "the Zionist enemy," and said both men deserved immunity from arrest because they were public officials.
Israel jails Hamas parliament speaker for 6 months
Military court places Hamas member Aziz Dweik in administrative detention for six months on suspicion of involvement in terror activities • Palestinian sources: His arrest was intended to prevent Hamas-Fatah reconciliation efforts.
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