A senior official of the Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) on Saturday blamed an Israeli arrest campaign in the West Bank for delaying the formation of a new coalition government to replace the Hamas-led one.

DFLP Politburo member Salleh Zeidan told reporters that the arrest campaign came shortly after Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed on forming a new cabinet.

"An agreement was reached between Abbas and Haneya to discuss details of forming a new coalition cabinet. But a massive arrest of Hamas-led cabinet ministers in the West Bank blocked the discussions," Zeidan said.

He accused Israel of escalating violence against the Palestinians to block any Palestinian agreement.

"We believe that a national coalition government with a large- scale social participation is the only one that would be able to end the crisis over an abducted Israeli soldier," he said.

Three armed groups, namely the Popular Resistance Committees, the Islamic Army and Hamas' armed wing Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, jointly carried out an attack on an Israeli army post southeast of the Gaza Strip last Sunday, killing two Israeli soldiers and kidnapping a third one.

In the wake of the attack, Israel started a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in an effort to rescue the abducted soldier.

Meanwhile, a massive arrest campaign was also conducted throughout the West Bank, during which senior Hamas officials, including eight ministers and 21 lawmakers, were arrested.

Source: Xinhua