Israel orders Hamas's Dweik be held for 6 months

Fourth Hamas official, Abul Jabbar Fuqaha, is arrested in his Ramallah home overnight, Ma'an reports.

By REUTERS, JPOST.COM STAFF
Hamas official Dweik in military court_311 (photo credit: Reuters)
Hamas official Dweik in military court_311
(photo credit: Reuters)
Israel on Tuesday ordered senior Hamas official Aziz Dweik, speaker of the Palestinian parliament, to be held without trial for six months, according to his lawyer.
IDF soldiers arrested Dweik at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah last week. The IDF said he was suspected of involvement with terrorist groups.
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"The (administrative detention) order was issued today but as is almost always the case, it gave no specific reasons why Dweik should be held. It said only that he was being detained because he was liable to be involved in hostile actions against Israel," lawyer Fadi Kawasmi told Reuters.
An IDF spokesman said he was checking for details of the case. Israel previously arrested Dweik in 2006 and held him in jail for two years.
Earlier Tuesday, the IDF arrested another Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament - the fourth such arrest in five days, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.
According to the report, the IDF arrested the 43-year old Abul Jabbar Fuqaha in his Ramallah home.
Responding to the arrest, Hamas's political arm sent a mobile phone statement condemning an "arrogant Zionist policy against Hamas figures."
On Monday police arrested two Hamas politicians, Khaled Abu-Arafa and Muhammad Totah, who had been hiding in an east Jerusalem Red Cross building for a year and a half.
The men had been staying in the building with Hamas MP Ahmad Attoun, who was arrested last year. They were using the Red Cross as a hide out since the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) ordered them to leave the city last year after having their Jerusalem residency revoked.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai revoked the men’s residency cards last spring, after the politicians refused to renounce their ties to Hamas.
The Shin Bet required them to leave the country by the end of June 2010.Yaakov Katz contributed to this report.