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NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained the mayor of a West Bank village at a military checkpoint on Tuesday, the mayor told Ma'an via telephone.

Abd al-Athim al-Wadi, the mayor of the village of Qusra, told Ma'an that Israeli forces stopped him at a checkpoint on the main road between Ramallah and Nablus.

The soldiers then took him to the illegal settlement of Maale Adumim east of Jerusalem for interrogation, al-Wadi said.

An Israeli police spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

At any given time there are about 100 permanent Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, while surprise flying checkpoints often number into the hundreds.

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.