Israel Detains 2 W. Bank Palestinians

Israeli police on Wednesday detained two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank after they were allegedly found with knives in their possession.



Police detained a man and a woman near the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the southern West Bank after finding knives in their possession, a police source told Israel army radio.



The Palestinian Prisoners Society said Fedaa Mohamed, 20, had been detained while traversing an Israeli checkpoint in Hebron.



The NGO, however, gave no details about the other Palestinian detained by Israeli forces.



Tension has mounted in East Jerusalem – and in the rest of the occupied West Bank – ever since the kidnap and murder of three Israeli settlers last summer and the subsequent abduction and murder of a Palestinian teenager.



Both incidents preceded a devastating Israeli military onslaught on the Gaza Strip in July and August that left over 2,160 Palestinians dead – the vast majority of them civilians – and some 11,000 injured.



Since then, several Israelis have been killed and injured in a spate of separate attacks by Palestinians – both in the occupied territories and in the self-proclaimed Jewish state itself.



Over 7,000 Palestinians are currently languishing in Israeli prisons, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs.



www.aa.com.tr/en - İsrail