An Israeli soldier scuffles with a member of the international solidarity movement during a demonstration to lift Israeli roadblocks in the West Bank city of Nablus

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, July 10 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Five Western peace activists were arrested Thursday, July 10, after attempting to remove Israeli army roadblocks in the West Bank city of Nablus, their group said in a statement.

An American, two Britons, a Canadian and a Frenchman, who were all members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), were arrested along with an Israeli while trying to demolish an earth roadblock with a bulldozer after already demolishing two others, said a statement according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Israeli soldiers suddenly drove army jeeps toward them at high rates of speed," the group said.

"The soldiers chased after a bulldozer, driven by a Palestinian and containing two internationals as passengers, which had been participating in the road block removal."

A stand-off then developed which ended with six activists' arrest.

"All six were handcuffed and transported by Israeli bus to Ariel police station," said the group.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli police.

Four other foreign ISM activists were arrested on Wednesday, July 9, as they demonstrated against the construction of a controversial security fence along the West Bank.

The four members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) -- from the United States, Canada, Denmark and Sweden -- were detained near the Palestinian village of Arabbuna after refusing orders to leave tents they had set up next to the wall.

They had been camping out at the site for three days near the West Bank town of Jenin, fellow activists said.

They were arrested without a struggle and taken away, witnesses told AFP.

A police spokesman told AFP that the army had handed them over to the police.

"The four foreign nationals ... put up tents in a closed military area," said Gil Kleiman. "The army took them to the police and they are now in Ariel police station."

Israel's interior ministry has been informed of their arrests as they were foreign nationals and it would decide on what to do next, the spokesman added.

A statement released by ISM later named the four as Bill Capowski from the United States, Tariq Loubani from Canada, Tobias Karlsson from Sweden and Fredrick Lind from Denmark.

"Full details are not yet known and none of the peace activists are answering their phones," said the statement.

The ISM is a Palestinian-led movement of Palestinian and International activists working to raise awareness of the struggle for Palestinian freedom and an end to Israeli occupation.

Over the past few months, peace activists paid dearly with their lives for their pro-Palestinian support.

An Israeli army bulldozer on Sunday, March 16, crushed to death a U.S. peace activist trying to prevent house demolitions in the Gaza Strip.

Peace activist Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old woman from Washington D.C., died when a military bulldozer ran over her in the town of Rafah.

In addition to Corrie, Thomas Hurndall, a 21-year-old British activist, was shot dead in the head by an Israeli soldier on April 11 in Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel began building the security fence between the West Bank and Israel in June 2002.

If construction is completed, the security barrier will stretch 700 kilometers (420 miles) around the West Bank at an estimated cost of six billion shekels (nearly 1.5 billion dollars).

The fence has angered many Palestinians, particularly as its construction has resulted in the expropriation of large tracts of land which they fear will end up occupied by Israel in a future settlement.