MOSCOW, June 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Israel on Monday, June 24, that it would be “dangerous and a mistake” to sideline Palestinian President Yasser Arafat from the Middle East peace process.

While also calling on the Palestinian leadership to do everything in its power to put an end to attacks on the Jewish state, Putin said in a nationally televised press conference that Israel should continue speaking directly to Arafat, Agence France- Presse (AFP) said.

“It would be dangerous and a mistake to remove [Arafat] from the political arena because in our view that would lead to the radicalization of Palestinian society,” Putin said.

“We believe that the Palestinian leadership should do everything in its power to stop the activities of terrorists in its region,” the Russian president added.

Putin’s comments came as Israeli forces retook Arafat’s Ramallah headquarters in the West Bank, once again isolating the Palestinian president.

Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships moved into Ramallah early Monday for the third time this month, imposing a curfew and sealing off Arafat’s already-battered compound, AFP reported.

Moscow, which has traditionally had close ties with the Arab world, has launched occasional diplomatic efforts to help resolve the crisis in the Middle East but observers say its influence in the region is limited.

Putin has dispatched his Middle East envoy Andrei Vdovin to the region in hopes of helping establish direct contact between the two sides.

Vdovin has said that Moscow supported the idea of holding an international conference on the Middle East conflict before the end of July, urging the participation of all concerned parties, including Syria.

The proposal is backed by the so-called diplomatic quartet of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, which hope to convene the forum this summer.

Russia and the United States are co-sponsors of the Middle East peace process launched at an international conference in Madrid in 1991.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation army abducted 22 Palestinians, almost all policemen, in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Monday, June 24, Palestinian security sources said.

They said one or two of those abducted could be prisoners held at a police station for common law crimes.

The policemen gave up their weapons to the Israeli army before being transported by a military bus to the nearby detention camp of Ofer, the sources said.

The station was located in an ordinary building as most police compounds were destroyed in previous Israeli incursions into or attacks on the southern West Bank town.

The Israeli army made no immediate comment on the arrests.

Israel army radio reported Monday that Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer is to dismantle 20 Jewish outposts set up “illegally” in the West Bank.

Ben Eliezer said he would move within days to uproot the small communities which have illegally sprouted close to settlements in Palestinian territory.

The defense chief did not identify which 20 outposts he would seek to remove.