Ismail Haniyeh
Photo: AP
IDF arrests Palestinian deputy PM
Troops burst into home of Nasser Shaer at around 4:30 a.m. and took him away, deputy prime minister’s wife, Huda says, adding that her husband had been in hiding since Israel began its crackdown in late June following Shalit kidnapping
Israeli soldiers detained the Palestinian deputy prime minister early Saturday, the man’s wife said, in what was the latest step in an ongoing crackdown against the ruling Hamas party.
Troops burst into the home of Nasser Shaer at around 4:30 a.m. and took him away, said the deputy prime minister’s wife, Huda.
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 an Israeli soldier. She said he had rarely been home during that period.
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 of Hamas officials, and a seven-week offensive in Gaza, the soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, remains in captivity.
The army could not immediately confirm Shaer’s arrest.
Shaer went into hiding some two months ago but continued to run the PA Education Ministry and even oversaw the matriculation exams held in the Authority last month; he also held a number of press conferences during this period.
The arrests of senior PA government and parliament members threaten to thwart efforts for the establishment of a Palestinian unity government, despite the agreement reached last week between President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on the matter. Haniyeh said he would agree to a unity government on condition that all ministers and parliament members imprisoned in Israel are released. Abbas’ Fatah party claimed that the stipulation is aimed at foiling the formation of a unity government.
