Israel PM says to continue nabbing Hamas officials

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned on Sunday that Israel will continue to arrest senior Hamas-led government officials, Ha'aretz newspaper reported.

Olmert told a weekly cabinet meeting that such operations are liable to be carried out not only in the West Bank but also in Gaza.

"I do not promise that the arrests of senior Hamas figures will take place only in Judea and Samaria (in the West Bank)," Olmert was quoted as saying

"In any case, when there is a factual basis for terror, there will be arrests. This is an accepted legal procedure. We have here the aggressive involvement of elected officials directly causing terrorism," said the Israeli premier.

Olmert, meanwhile, said that Israel will not cave in to the demand of the Palestinian militants, which called for release of 1, 000 prisoners held by Israel in return for kidnapped Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit, adding he believed that doing so would invite more kidnaping attempts.

On June 25, Shalit was seized by Palestinian militants who mounted a deadly attack on an Israeli army post near the Gaza border, during which two other Israeli soldiers were killed and four wounded.

In the wake of the attack, Israeli troops intruded into the Gaza Strip in the largest incursion since Israel pulled out forces and settlers from the Gaza Strip last summer after a 38-year-long presence there.

Last Thursday, Israeli troops launched a large-scale arrest campaign in the West Bank, detaining eight ministers of the Hamas- led government and over 20 Hamas legislators in a move to mount pressures on the Palestinian government over the abduction case.

Meanwhile, Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz told the cabinet that Hamas activists of all ranks would be questioned, and that those found worthy of trial would be tried in military courts in the West Bank.

Mazuz stressed that the arrests had not been conducted in the interest of obtaining bargaining chips for Israeli kidnapped soldier, but rather on the basis of their participation in illegal activities.

Source: Xinhua