Haaretz
Av 26, 5766
RAMALLAH - Israel Defense Forces soldiers arrested the
Palestinian deputy prime minister early Saturday, the army said, the
highest-ranking Hamas official to be arrested in a six-week-old crackdown
against the ruling Hamas party.
Troops burst into the home of
Nasser Shaer - considered to be a relative moderate - around 4:30 a.m. and
took him away, the deputy prime minister's wife, Huda, said.
She
said her husband had been in hiding since Israel began its crackdown in
late June after Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip infiltrated southern
Israel and captured a soldier. She said he had rarely been home during
that period.
The army confirmed Shaer was arrested in Ramallah
overnight for his involvement and activity in Hamas.
With Shaer's
arrest, four members of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian Cabinet and some
28 Hamas lawmakers are in Israeli custody. Four other ministers have been
detained and released. Despite the roundup and a seven-week offensive in
Gaza, the soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, remains in
captivity.
Palestinian officials both from the ruling Hamas party
and from President Mahmoud Abbas' rival Fatah Party condemned the
arrest.
Saeb Erekat, a Fatah lawmaker, said Shaer's arrest was
hurting efforts by the moderate Abbas to form a coalition with the Islamic
Hamas party. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas is
"finding it embarrassing to negotiate while his colleagues are jail,"
Erekat said.
Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the Hamas government,
said Israel wants to arrest the entire Cabinet.
"They wont be
satisfied with any government headed by Hamas or headed by Fatah or headed
by a new coalition, so I think they want to undermine the political
regime, the Palestinian political regime," Hamad said.
Egypt,
which often acts as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, also
condemned the arrest.
"Israel has to realize that these actions
will only lead to spread hatred and extremism, and do not serve the
attempts to close the two parties' stances, aiming to make the peace
process active again," said Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit
said.
Fatah blames Hamas for unity government
impasse
Fatah officials said Friday that negotiations on a possible
national unity government with Hamas have failed, blaming the impasse on
the Islamic group, which they claim are making impossible demands.
During the talks, Hamas insisted on keeping all key ministerial
positions, including prime minister.
Fatah members say the
discussions over a unity government and the preservation of the
tahadiya ("lull" in the fighting with Israel) are all in the realm
of spin orchestrated by Hamas and by Palestinian Authority Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas, who seek to ward off a potential IDF operation in
Gaza.
Hamas is also demanding that the establishment of a unity
government bring the end of the international community's policy of
isolating the Hamas-led PA.
U.S. officials rejected this demand out
of hand, telling Abbas that they would not agree to recognize a unity
government unless it fulfilled three conditions: recognition of Israel,
official acceptance of all previously signed agreements between it and the
Palestinians, and forswearing all forms of violence.
Hamas official
Osama al-Muzaini told Reuters that Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh had
handed Abbas a letter outlining Hamas's vision for a unity
government.
"Any government must be headed by Hamas and the
majority of seats should be for Hamas," Muzaini said. "It is reasonable
given the fact that Hamas is the majority in parliament," he said, adding
that they were not absolute conditions.
Azzam al-Ahmed, the head of
Fatah's parliamentary bloc, said there could be no talks on a unity
government until there was "a common political agenda", adding that Hamas
leaders had made clear they had not changed their stance.
"Hamas is
talking about annexing other groups to their government and not about
forming a unity coalition. I say in the name of Fatah that we will not
accept to be an annex to the government, we want to be partners," he
said.