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Israel arrests dozens of Palestinian leaders

Israeli troops rounded up dozens of ministers and lawmakers from the Palestinians' ruling Hamas party yesterday while forging ahead with a military campaign in Gaza meant to win the release of an Israeli soldier held by Hamas gunmen.

The body of a kidnapped 18-year-old Jewish settler was found in the West Bank, Israeli security officials said. He had been shot in the head. Palestinian militants said they killed Eliahu Asheri, whose body was found buried near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Israeli aircraft hit a car carrying Palestinian militants in Gaza City, the Israeli military said. One person was wounded, hospital officials said.

On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes also buzzed the summer home of Syria's president, Bashar Assad, who harbors the hard-line Hamas leaders who Israel says ordered the kidnapping.

Sunday's capture of the Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit by Hamas' military wing and two affiliated groups, and Israel's subsequent military incursion into Gaza threatened to bring the two sides to the brink of all-out war. Hamas, which took over the Palestinian Authority after winning parliamentary elections in January, has resisted international pressure to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

An Israeli military official said a total of 64 Hamas officials were arrested in the early morning roundup. Of those, Palestinian officials said seven are ministers in Hamas' 23-member Cabinet and 20 others are lawmakers in the 72-seat parliament.

Palestinian parliament speaker Abdel Aziz Duaik and Religious Affairs Minister Nayef Rajoub, brother of former West Bank strongman Jibril Rajoub of the rival Fatah party, were among those rounded up. There were conflicting reports about whether Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Shaer, who has called for Shalit's release, was arrested.

Officials will be questioned and eventually indicted, the Israeli army and government officials said.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the ministers and lawmakers were not taken as bargaining chips for Shalit's release, but because Israel holds Hamas responsible for attacks against it.

"The arrests of these Hamas officials ... is part of a campaign against a terrorist organization that has escalated its war of terror against Israeli civilians," Regev said.

Israel has said it would not negotiate Shalit's release with the militants and has rejected demands to free Palestinian prisoners in exchange for information about the captured soldier.
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