Israel arrests Hamas lawmaker in West Bank

Israeli forces on Saturday arrested members of the Palestinian Authority's intelligence services in the occupied West Bank for the second day in a row, Palestinian security sources said.Three members of the intelligence services and two other Palestinians were arrested at dawn in the northern West Bank, the sources said.On Friday, a regional commander of the intelligence services and four of his men were arrested, also in the northern West Bank, they said.The Israeli military refused to comment on the report.

Israeli security forces arrested a Hamas MP at his home in the occupied West Bank town of Hebron early on Monday, according to Hamas and local Palestinian security officials.Omar Abdelrazaq, a senior Hamas official in the West Bank, said MP Hatem Qafaish had been arrested for unknown reasons.The Israeli military would not immediately comment.Qafaish has been detained on a number of previous occasions, including in 2006 when Israel arrested scores of Hamas MPs, ministers and other officials after its soldier Gilad Shalit was seized by Gaza militants.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli undercover troops broke into a West Bank apartment building in a failed arrest raid Thursday, igniting a violent protest and signaling that Israeli-Palestinian security coordination may be in trouble, officials said.

Israeli forces arrested senior Hamas MP Mahmud al-Ramahi at his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah overnight, his Islamist movement said on Wednesday.Ramahi, who is secretary of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the body's third most senior member, was detained at around 3 am (0100 GMT), Hamas sources in Ramallah told AFP.The Israeli army said it was looking into the reports.The arrest came after representatives of Hamas and the Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas started a meeting in Damascus on Tuesday night for reconciliation talks.

Israeli troops arrested a Hamas MP in the West Bank on Wednesday, just months after he was freed after serving a four-year jail term, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said.Naif al-Rajoub was detained overnight when troops entered Dura village south of the flashpoint city of Hebron in the south of the occupied territory, the sources said.The Israeli army confirmed they had arrested Rajoub, but refused to comment on the reason for his detention, saying he was one of seven Palestinians picked up overnight.

Israeli troops on Tuesday arrested four Hamas MPs in the northern West Bank, Palestinian security sources and officials from the Islamist group said.Three of them were arrested in the early hours in the northern city of Nablus, while a fourth was picked up in Salfit, a town some 15 kilometres (nine miles) further south, they said.In Nablus, troops arrested three MPs -- Nawaf Amer, who is also 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.

A Palestinian killed five Israelis in an overnight attack on a West Bank settlement, who according to media reports Saturday were all members of the same family, including a baby and a toddler.An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed to AFP Saturday that a Palestinian got into the Itamar settlement near Nablus in the north of the West Bank and killed five people, but did not elaborate on who the victims were.Israeli reports suggested that the victims had all been stabbed to death in their beds.

Leaders of the Palestinian Fatah party led tens of thousands of supporters Friday in a mass rally in the Gaza Strip, the first such gathering for the largely secular party in the territory since the rival Islamist Hamas seized power there in 2007. The demonstration, which was condoned by Hamas, showed how the long-bitter relations between the rival Palestinian factions have improved since an Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip in November.