WEST BANK, Aug 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Hours before releasing some 340 Palestinian detainees, a number far below the expectations of the Palestinian people under the internationally-back roadmap, Israeli occupation forces stormed the West Bank town of Ariha (Jericho) and arrested 18 Palestinian security officers.

The "insufficient" Israeli move also came under fire from both Palestinian officials and resistance groups who were pressing for the release of around 8000 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails.

Busloads of Palestinian prisoners arrived here, flashing victory signs, holding emotional reunions with their families and kissing the ground as they were deposited at checkpoints dotted around the West Bank and Gaza Strip after finally leaving Israeli custody, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The prisoners were transferred from the Israeli prisons of Ketziot, in the southern Negev desert, and Meggido, in northern Israel and none of them has been involved in anti-Israeli attacks, in line with the criteria set by Israel for prisoners release.

But Taghrid Abdelaziz, 52, showed unbridled joy, breaking into tears as she hugged her newly-liberated son Ahmed.

"I am so happy, I thank God," she said.

Her 25-year-old son was held in administrative detention for over a year and released two weeks before he was due to be set free.

Similar scenes could be seen around the Tarqumia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Al-Khalil (Hebron).

A group of 27 was also delivered to the Erez crossing on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

They were greeted by around a dozen supporters who were carrying Palestinian flags and chanted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great).

One of those to be freed was Mohammed Abu Daher, 27, from Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.

He said that he had been in jail for 27 months after being convicted of being a member of the resistance movement Hamas.

"There are several thousand heroes still in the occupiers' jails," he told AFP.

"We cannot be completely happy if anyone is in an Israeli jail. It's a big trick from the Israeli occupation."

Abdallah Esaid, 33, said he had been released from Ketziot prison just three days before his administrative detention order was due to expire.

"We want the international community to force Israel to release all prisoners from all factions," said the member of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.

"We need to see the Israeli jails completely empty."

Issa Qaraqaa, head of the Palestinian prisoners association, said four prisoners due to be released from Ketziot were refusing to leave their cells as they were to have been released in three to four days anyway.

Butheina Dukmak, a lawyer from the Mandela institute which deals with Palestinian prisoners issues, said that some 70 percent of those being released Wednesday had in any case been due to be freed by the end of the year.

Another 28 percent would have been released in 2004, she added.

According to lists published Monday, August 4, by Israel's prison services, 342 Palestinians held for security reasons were to be released.

Palestinian resistance groups have conditioned their three-month suspension of anti-Israeli attacks declared on June 29 on the unconditional release of all Palestinian prisoners.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army arrested 18 Palestinian security officers in the West Bank city of Jericho, a Palestinian security official said.

A curfew was imposed and Israeli troops detained 18 Palestinians in house-to-house searches, local commander of the Palestinian national security forces Munjib Zeidan told AFP.

He said that 15 of those arrested were members of the Palestinian security and protection force, which is not linked to Force 17, and the other three worked for the intelligence services.

"These men were simple officers. None of my men are wanted by Israel, these arrests do not make any sense," Zeidan stressed.

A column of around 20 Israeli jeeps and armored personnel carriers advanced 500 meters into Maghtas street in downtown Jericho, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

The street is near a training camp for Force 17 -- an elite security unit attached to President Arafat.

Jericho was the only major West Bank town not to be reoccupied by the Israeli army following the eruption of the Palestinian Intifada in September 2000.

Still Committed

In another development, Palestinian resistance groups Hamas and the Islamic Jihad reiterated Tuesday, August 5, during a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmmoud Abbas, commitment to the truce.

"We asserted to Abbas that the Islamic Jihad and Hamas are rigorously respecting the Hudna", which was declared unilaterally by main Palestinian groups on June 29, said Mohammad al-Hindi, a senior Islamic Jihad leader.

He added "the main problem lies with the Israeli occupation and (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon."

Hindi said that they handed Abbas a detailed report on the Israeli violations of the truce and aggressions, including the ongoing construction of the 600km-long separating wall, the procrastination in releasing all Palestinian prisoners and arrests.

He added that his movement has been assessing the situation on the ground since the declaration of the truce, asserting that Abbas did not suggest extending it.

For his part, Nafiz Azzam, an Islamic Jiahd leader, said that "discussions with Abu Mazen (Abbas) were positive."

"He spoke to us about Israeli aggressions and informed us about the results of his talks in Washington and the Arab world and we agreed with him that the liberation of Palestinian prisoners announced by Israel is insufficient," he said.

Azzam also dismissed as "disappointed and insufficient" the Israeli decision to release a scanty number of Palestinian prisoners, calling for the unconditional release of all prisoners.