Israeli forces moved on Wednesday morning into the West Bank city of Nablus, arresting at least one Palestinian, and injuring 10 others. Locals reported that troops fired at several homes in the city and searched them.
Earlier, Israeli troops arrested nine Palestinians on Tuesday night in raids throughout the West Bank. Three of the men arrested in the Hebron area were members of the Hamas faction, and another from the Islamic Jihad faction.
Another man taken into custody in the operation was a member of the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), two others were believed to be members of the Tanzim faction while two more were suspected of being weapons dealers. All five were arrested in the Bethlehem area.
Also in Bethlehem, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at Israeli troops overnight. No injured was reported in the incident, though one man was detained for questioning regarding his involvement in the attack.
Saeb Erekat: Israel may try to sabotage Palestinian elections
Meanwhile, Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat expressed concerns at a news conference on Tuesday that Israel may attempt to sabotage the upcoming Palestinian election this January. He also said that he feared one tactic which might be used by Israel could be an assassination intended to disrupt voting.
Erekat told reporters that though there was no direct evidence of a planned Israeli assassination, Israel was refusing to help set the stage for the coming elections, and was resisting, for example, registering East Jerusalem Palestinians for the vote.
Erekat suggested that thousands of monitors would be needed to ensure that the January 25 elections would be conducted successfully.
"We want the American administration to help us, to send as many observers as possible, people to help us in the training and making sure that the Israelis don't sabotage or obstruct those elections," Erekat told reporters while on a visit to Washington to meet with US Secretary of States Condoleezza Rice, according to the AP.
On Tuesday, voting was halted in the Gaza Strip when charges of election fraud led to unrest at several voting stations in the region. Angered Palestinians disrupted polling stations, destroyed candidate lists and shot bullet rounds into the air in protest.
