Israel detains 23 Palestinians in West Bank

By Awad Rajoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Israeli army forces early Wednesday detained 23 Palestinians, including a woman, in raids in the occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian NGO.

The detention campaign targeted the cities of Qalqilya, Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Bethlehem, the Asra Media Office said in a statement.

In a related development, Israeli settlers chopped down some 170 olive trees in the village of al-Lubban, south of Nablus, according to a local source.

Raja Owais, a Palestinian farmer, told Anadolu Agency that, "the trees were uprooted in attacks by settlers at midnight.”

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told the official Voice of Palestine radio that settlers also attacked at least 80 Palestinian vehicles last night on roads linking Nablus with cities in the northern West Bank.

Settlers also attacked Palestinian homes in the town of Burin, southwest of Nablus, he added.

The arrests and settler attacks came a few hours after a Palestinian fatally shot five Israelis in the city of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv.

* Writing by Mahmoud Barakat