Asfur was arrested more than 15 times by Israeli forces

Additional Reporting By Yasser el-Banna, IOL Correspondent

NABLUS, December 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) –Hamas spokesman in the West Bank was detained by the Israeli occupation forces in the early hours of Sunday, December 21, as Israel continued its controversial policy of pulling down Palestinian houses. The U.S. President, meanwhile, renewed his call for getting rid of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Dr. Muhammad Ghazal, from Hamas' Nablus political command, told IslamOnline.net that Adnan Asfur, a prominent Hamas political leader and the official spokesman of the movement in the West Bank, was detained in a new Israeli incursion in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Ghazal said that 20 armored vehicles and 200 Israeli soldiers entered Al-Makhfeya neighborhood, western Nablus, surrounded Asfur's apartment building and called on all the residents to come out, before arresting him.

Ghazal confirmed that the arrest will not stop the Palestinian people or Hamas from continuing the Intifada.

The Israeli army refused to comment on the detention, which was confirmed by the Hamas official's brother, Said Asfour.

Asfur, 38, was arrested for more than 15 times for short periods but it reached two years in late 1990. He became the only Hamas spokesman in the West Bank after Israel assassinated Gamal Mansour and Gamal Saleem as well as arresting sheikh Hassan Yousef in September 2002.

Rafah Incursion

Destroyed homes have become a daily routine for Palestinians

Meanwhile, Palestinian medical and security sources said that the Israeli troops demolished seven houses in the outskirts of Rafah refugee camp, near the Israeli controlled Palestinian-Egyptian border. The troops also flattened the remains of 20 previously demolished houses.

An Israeli official, on the other hand, claimed that the buildings were used as a starting point for an underground tunnel that last week took Palestinians close to an Israeli army outpost, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Israeli troops have been operating in Nablus and its Balata refugee camp for the past few days. The operation has not yet drawn to a close, the Israeli daily Ha’aretz said.

Operations began early Saturday morning as Israeli soldiers entered the Balata refugee camp and began conducting house-to-house searches, using tear gas and prohibited rubber bullets against Palestinian stone throwers wounding five Palestinians, Israel army officials and Palestinian witnesses told the paper.

Witnesses also said that soldiers fired tear gas into a girls' school in the camp, outside Nablus. The Israeli military denied firing tear gas into any buildings during the raid, reported Ha’aretz.

“Bush Calls For Arafat Head”

Embattled Arafat

In another development, U.S. President George W. Bush said to an Israeli journalist that "we must get rid of" Arafat, according to AFP.

The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Bush's comments which came in a brief exchange with the paper's correspondent during a Christmas drinks party in Washington.

Bush comments came a few hours after U.S. criticized the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, for his threat of implementing his own “unilateral measures” if the Palestinians did not meet their road map commitments in the coming months.

Washington warned Israel that it would oppose any unilateral Israeli move towards a Middle East settlement that falls outside the U.S.-backed road map for peace.

The U.S. government has boycotted Arafat, with Bush accusing the Palestinian veteran leader of failing the Palestinian people.

Israel decided to expel Arafat in a cabinet meeting September 11, calling him an absolute obstacle to peace and confining him to his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah for more than two years.

One defiant Israeli Minister has suggested the assassination of Arafat, but Washington warned Israel not to attempt to expel him.

Palestinian-Israeli Meeting

Incursions and detentions came amid efforts to arrange a meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian Prime Ministers.

According to British daily The Observer, chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Saturday that the two sides were meeting in the next two days and that the summit could take place this week. The summit would be aimed at restarting stalled peace talks.

Several weeks efforts were forwarded to arrange such a meeting. Both sides have expressed a desire to meet to rejuvenate efforts to implement the U.S. backed "road map" peace plan, which envisions an immediate end to violence and the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005, the paper added.