Description

by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

[Saturday, June 14, 2014] Israeli soldiers kidnapped at least twelve Palestinians in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, after breaking into dozens of homes and searching them, and confiscating surveillance tapes from a number of properties.

The army said the invasions are part of the ongoing campaign aimed at locating three Israeli teenaged settlers, who went missing Thursday, and are believed to have been kidnapped by Palestinian fighters.

Palestinian security sources in Hebron have reported that the soldiers kidnapped ‘Ala Zakariyya Abu Zeina, Ammar Mohammad Abu Aisha and his wife Ekram Hasan Abu Aisha, Eyad Shabana Tamimi, Yasser al-Jamal, Dirar Abu Monshaar, in addition to Marwan, Sharif, Bilal, Ayman and Othman al-Qawasma.

All kidnapped Palestinians were taken from their homes after the army searched them, and were moved to the Etzion military and security base for interrogation.

Soldiers also invaded various neighborhoods in the towns of Taffouh, Doura, Yatta, Beit Kahel, and Tarqoumia, broke into and searched dozens of homes, and confiscated tapes caught by surveillance cameras belonging to the residents.

In addition, soldiers installed dozens of roadblocks at the northern entrance of Hebron city, the entrance of Ethna town west of Hebron, the entrances of as-Sammoa’ and Yatta towns, south of the city, and a number of junctions in the area, stopped hundreds of Palestinian cars, and searched them while examining the ID cards of the passengers.

Furthermore, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would be holding extensive talks with security and military officials, including Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Moshe Ya’alon, in addition to top security officials including Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen.

A source at Netanyahu’s office denied reports claiming that Netanyahu received a call from Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas.

The statement came after a Palestinian source said Abbas phoned Netanyahu and held talks on the latest developments, “including the search for the missing settlers”.