Israeli troops abduct Palestinian Cabinet Minister in Jenin; land titles stolen

Saturday May 26, 2007 11:09 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC Editorial Group

In the early hours of Saturday morning, Israeli forces surrounded the home of Palestinian Cabinet Minster Wasfi Qabha, who was eventually abducted and taken to an undisclosed location.

Wasfi Qabha - archived photo

Local sources in Jenin reported that a number of Israeli troops and vehicles invaded the city in the early hours of Saturday morning, focusing their attack on the home of Wasfi Qabha and the Islamic Waqf and Religious Affairs Directorate.

Qabha was abducted in May of last year during a massive Israeli sweep of Palestinian government ministers, but was later released. Over 70 Hamas official were abducted in the previous round of raids. The current round of arrests by Israeli forces have been ongoing for almost one week. So far, more than 30 Hams officials have been taken prisoner.

Qabha's abduction follows that of the Palestinian Minister of Education, Nasser al-Shaer, on Thursday.

In addition to abducting Qabha from his home, Israeli soldiers ransacked the Islamic Waqf and seized property titles and documents dating back to the Ottoman era.

The documents seized prove Palestinian ownership of land in the Jenin area.

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