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| Israel Demands Palestinian Leader’s Help After Abductions | |
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| JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on Monday that he expected his help in finding three kidnapped Israeli teenagers and capturing their abductors. The telephone conversation, initiated by Mr. Abbas, came after Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man overnight as they continued an aggressive campaign across the West Bank, arresting a total of 150 people, most of them leaders of the militant Islamic movement Hamas. | JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on Monday that he expected his help in finding three kidnapped Israeli teenagers and capturing their abductors. The telephone conversation, initiated by Mr. Abbas, came after Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man overnight as they continued an aggressive campaign across the West Bank, arresting a total of 150 people, most of them leaders of the militant Islamic movement Hamas. |
| Among those detained in the latest sweep was the Hamas-affiliated speaker of the Palestinian Parliament, which has not met in years. Mr. Netanyahu and other Israeli officials insist the kidnapping is the work of Hamas, despite claims of responsibility from other groups, but hold Mr. Abbas accountable because of his April reconciliation with Hamas, which led to the formation of a new Palestinian government that Israel has urged the world to reject. | Among those detained in the latest sweep was the Hamas-affiliated speaker of the Palestinian Parliament, which has not met in years. Mr. Netanyahu and other Israeli officials insist the kidnapping is the work of Hamas, despite claims of responsibility from other groups, but hold Mr. Abbas accountable because of his April reconciliation with Hamas, which led to the formation of a new Palestinian government that Israel has urged the world to reject. |
| “The consequences of the partnership with Hamas must be understood,” Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Abbas, according to a statement from his office. “It is bad for Israel, bad for the Palestinians, and bad for the region.” | “The consequences of the partnership with Hamas must be understood,” Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Abbas, according to a statement from his office. “It is bad for Israel, bad for the Palestinians, and bad for the region.” |
| Mr. Abbas’s office on Monday condemned both the kidnapping and the Israeli military campaign that followed it, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency. “The presidency also stressed again the importance of not resorting to violence by any side,” Wafa said, and “praised the efforts” of the Palestinian security forces “to maintain calm and order.” | Mr. Abbas’s office on Monday condemned both the kidnapping and the Israeli military campaign that followed it, according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency. “The presidency also stressed again the importance of not resorting to violence by any side,” Wafa said, and “praised the efforts” of the Palestinian security forces “to maintain calm and order.” |
| Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Mr. Abbas’s spokesman, said the Palestinian president had called Mr. Netanyahu on Monday because he "wanted to assure the Israelis that we don't accept these kinds of actions," referring to the kidnapping. | |
| “The political connection between the two men is very important at this point,” Mr. Abu Rudeineh said in a telephone interview. “It’s very important that Israelis are willing to cooperate with Abbas on these issues. We are not going to say who is responsible. We are looking, together, to finish this issue peacefully, and that’s the important thing. The message is the two authorities are taking the right decisions and working together.” | |
| Many of the arrests are not directly connected to the search for the missing teenagers but aimed at applying pressure on Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union. Israeli ministers were due to convene on Monday afternoon to consider further measures against Hamas, including the deportation of members to the Gaza Strip, the destruction of activists’ homes and cutting off funding of affiliated charities and organizations. | Many of the arrests are not directly connected to the search for the missing teenagers but aimed at applying pressure on Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States and the European Union. Israeli ministers were due to convene on Monday afternoon to consider further measures against Hamas, including the deportation of members to the Gaza Strip, the destruction of activists’ homes and cutting off funding of affiliated charities and organizations. |
| Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of the secular Fatah faction, issued a statement overnight claiming responsibility for the kidnapping and demanding the release of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, but that statement’s veracity was in doubt. Two little-known groups had previously taken credit for the abduction. Hamas has denied culpability. | Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of the secular Fatah faction, issued a statement overnight claiming responsibility for the kidnapping and demanding the release of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, but that statement’s veracity was in doubt. Two little-known groups had previously taken credit for the abduction. Hamas has denied culpability. |
| “We warn the Zionists against committing any more stupidities, including their violations of international laws by the arresting of the Parliament speaker,” Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official, said in a statement on Monday morning. “Gaza and the West Bank are one entity, especially with the signing of reconciliation, which we should go on with.” | “We warn the Zionists against committing any more stupidities, including their violations of international laws by the arresting of the Parliament speaker,” Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas official, said in a statement on Monday morning. “Gaza and the West Bank are one entity, especially with the signing of reconciliation, which we should go on with.” |
| The teenagers, Eyal Yifrach, 19, and Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frankel, 16, were last heard from at around 10 p.m. on Thursday as they set out to hitchhike home from the yeshivas in West Bank settlements where they were students. Thousands of Israelis prayed for their safe return at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday night, and at impromptu services across the country. | The teenagers, Eyal Yifrach, 19, and Gilad Shaar and Naftali Frankel, 16, were last heard from at around 10 p.m. on Thursday as they set out to hitchhike home from the yeshivas in West Bank settlements where they were students. Thousands of Israelis prayed for their safe return at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday night, and at impromptu services across the country. |
| A huge military operation engulfed the southern West Bank, with Israeli soldiers all but shutting down access to Hebron, the largest Palestinian city, leading to a strike by merchants. | |
| Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, the military’s chief, said Sunday night that the goals of the campaign were to “find the three boys and bring them home, and to hurt Hamas as much as possible.” Moshe Ya’alon, Israel’s defense minister, said, “We will know how to exact a very heavy price from the leaders of Hamas, wherever and whenever we see fit.” | |
| Palestinian news organizations reported Monday that 400 soldiers raided the Jalazoun refugee camp, near Ramallah, leading to clashes in which a man they identified as Ahmad Al-Sabarin was killed. Dr. Sameer Saliba, chief of emergency medicine at Ramallah Hospital, gave a different name for the 20-year-old victim, Ahmad Arafat Samada, and said he arrived at 3 a.m., already dead, with one bullet in the right side of his chest. | Palestinian news organizations reported Monday that 400 soldiers raided the Jalazoun refugee camp, near Ramallah, leading to clashes in which a man they identified as Ahmad Al-Sabarin was killed. Dr. Sameer Saliba, chief of emergency medicine at Ramallah Hospital, gave a different name for the 20-year-old victim, Ahmad Arafat Samada, and said he arrived at 3 a.m., already dead, with one bullet in the right side of his chest. |
| Israel also carried out airstrikes overnight in the Gaza Strip, injuring four people — two of them children — after four rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel late Sunday. Besides the bolstered checkpoints in the southern West Bank, Israel has closed its crossings into Gaza to all traffic except fuel shipments and humanitarian emergencies; blocked men under 50 from leaving the West Bank via Jordan; and canceled family visits to Palestinian prisoners in its jails. | |
| Ehab Bessaiso, the Palestinian government spokesman, on Sunday called the Israeli campaign “collective punishment,” including what he called a “siege” of Hebron, according to Wafa. Mr. Bessaiso and other Palestinian officials have said they are not responsible for the kidnapping because it occurred in an area of the West Bank under Israeli control, something Israelis have compared to suggesting that the United States was responsible for the 9/11 attacks because they happened in New York. | |
| “The Hamas kidnappers came from territory under the Palestinian Authority control and returned to territory under Palestinian Authority control,” Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Abbas, according to the statement from his office. “This incident exposes the true face of the terrorism that we are fighting against.” | “The Hamas kidnappers came from territory under the Palestinian Authority control and returned to territory under Palestinian Authority control,” Mr. Netanyahu told Mr. Abbas, according to the statement from his office. “This incident exposes the true face of the terrorism that we are fighting against.” |
| In an oblique reference to reports that Mr. Abbas’s wife was treated Sunday in an Israeli hospital, Mr. Netanyahu added, “Terrorists abduct innocent Israeli children while we save the lives of ill Palestinian children in our hospitals. This is the difference between our humanitarian policy and the murderous terror that is attacking us.” | In an oblique reference to reports that Mr. Abbas’s wife was treated Sunday in an Israeli hospital, Mr. Netanyahu added, “Terrorists abduct innocent Israeli children while we save the lives of ill Palestinian children in our hospitals. This is the difference between our humanitarian policy and the murderous terror that is attacking us.” |