A special Border Guard unit operating in Ramallah Monday night detained senior Hamas member Abdulla Arar on suspicion of involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Israeli citizen Sasson Nuriel in Septmeber 2005.
Sasson and Arrar knew each other before the murder, and Arar is suspected of planning the abduction and assisting the group that carried out the murder.
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Body of Jerusalem-area man missing since Wednesday found near West Bank town of Ramallah |
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In a videotape released by Hamas a number of days after the murder, Nuriel was shown bound hand and foot, with a blindfold strapped around his head, mumbling a text apparently dictated to him by his captors.
Nuriel's driving license was displayed by Hamas on the group's military wing's website.
According to a statement released by the group after the murder, Hamas terrorists intended to exchange Nuriel in the framework of a prisoner swap for Palestinian prisoners, but decided to kill him after Israel arrested several hundred suspects during a West Bank operation.
Tensions high ahead of elections
The Palestinian Authority elections, scheduled to take place Wednesday, are not preventing terror organizations from going ahead with their attempts to carry out terror attacks.
The IDF halted its operations in the West Bank Monday in order to allow the Palestinians to hold the elections without disruptions. IDF officials stressed that the operations inside the Palestinian cities would only be resumed on Thursday, but operations against the Islamic Jihad and against "ticking bombs" will continue in the next two days.
Monday night, an elite army unit arrived at the town of Kabatiya, south of Jenin, and besieged two houses after receiving intelligence information about wanted Jihad members hiding inside. After exchanging fire with the Palestinians, the soldiers forced the four members to exit the houses and turn themselves in.
Among the members was Mahmoud Abu-Rob, a senior Islamic Jihad member who has reportedly been planning to launch a terror attack in Israel in the next few days.
During a search conducted by the unit inside the houses, the soldiers found three Kalashnikov rifles, 12 cartridges, a bullet-proof vest and a grenade. The Palestinians were taken into interrogation by the security forces, and the weapons were detonated in a controlled manner.
Four more wanted Palestinians were detained by security forces Monday night. In Jenin, IDF soldiers arrested a wanted Palestinian woman and member of the Islamic Jihad who recently expressed her willingness to carry out a suicide bombing.
Two wanted Islamic Jihad members were arrested in a village northwest of Jenin and a wanted Hamas member was detained in Ramallah.
The Palestinians are continuing their attempts to keep tension high throughout the election period by launching Qassam rockets at Israel. Three rockets were fired toward the Sderot area on Monday evening and apparently landed in open areas near the southern town.
Early Tuesday, another rocket was launched at the southern town. There were no reports of injuries or damage. 
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