Israel Abducts Palestinian Deputy PM

Shaer was abducted from his home in Ramallah by the Israeli occupation forces.

Israeli forces burst into Shaer's home before dawn and took him away, his wife said, Reuters reported.

She said that "several jeeps circled the house before dawn" then troops came to the door.

Shaer's wife said an Israeli officer told her after checking their identity documents, "sorry madame, but your husband has to come with us. He let him first say goodbye to our four children."

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that the Palestinian minister was taken into custody for what he said involvement with Hamas.

Two Hamas lawmakers also confirmed the abduction of the Palestinian deputy premier by Israeli forces.

Israeli occupation forces have abducted the third of the Hamas-led Palestinian government and 23 Hamas MPs since June after launching a wide-scale offensive in Gaza on the pretext of seeking the release of a soldier taken prisoner by Palestinian groups, killing up to 180 Palestinians and wounding hundreds.

On August 5, Israeli forces abducted Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker Aziz Dweik from his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

He became the most senior of more than sixty Palestinian cabinet ministers, lawmakers, mayors and politicians kidnapped by Israeli forces.

Second Deputy Speaker Hassan Khreishe was also kidnapped by Israel but released last Sunday after a one-month detention.

Minister of Planning Samir Abu Eisheh was released in mid-July, and Prisoners' Affairs Minister Wasfi Kibha was freed on Wednesday.

Conditions

The Israeli abduction of the top Palestinian official came hours after Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh conditioned the release of Palestinian ministers and MPs in the Israeli jails for forming a national unity government.

"There will be no national unity government as long as ministers and elected officials are in Israeli prisons," Haniyeh told in the weekly Friday sermon, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"They must be released, especially Aziz Dweik," he added.

An Israeli military court on Thursday, August 17, extended Dweik's remand.

Haniyeh also said that a Palestinian unity government could only be formed after lifting the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.

"Any government must insist on the end of the siege (in the Gaza Strip), the reason for which is that the government is led by Hamas," he said.

He said a unity government must also be based on the results of the Palestinian legislative election".

Neither could any official implicated in corruption take part in any possible national unity coalition alongside Hamas, he stressed.

On Wednesday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had reported progress in efforts to form a national unity government.

The US and EU froze international aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority since the new Hamas-led Palestinian government took power.

Israel also suspended the monthly payment of customs duties, worth more than 50 million dollars, it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on goods that transit through its territory.

This is affecting the livelihoods of around one million people or a quarter of the population of the Gaza Strip and West Bank