BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained a Palestinian parliamentarian in Bethlehem early Friday, hours after seizing the head of the Palestinian Legislative Council Aziz Dweik at a checkpoint near Ramallah.
Soldiers raided the home of Khaled Ibrahim Tafesh, 50, a member of the Hamas-affiliated Change and Reform Bloc, and detained him after confiscating his computer and mobile phone.
On Thursday, Israeli soldiers seized Palestinian Legislative Council head Aziz Dweik at a military checkpoint, witnesses said.
Hamas deputy speaker Ahmed Bahar said Israel's detention of Dweik was intended to prevent reconciliation between Palestinian factions and elections later this year, and called for a halt to PLO talks with Israeli delegates in Jordan.
"What happened requires (President) Mahmoud Abbas to declare an immediate stop to the negotiations in Amman in respect of our people and in respect of the parliament and its head," Bahar told reporters in Gaza.
"It should be a firm message to the occupation (Israel) that their continued crimes will not be give cover by the Palestinian Authority and will not pass without a response," Bahar said.
Lawmakers behind bars
Tafesh, elected in 2006, has spent 10 years in Israeli jails. He was last released from Israel jail in March 2010 after serving one year behind bars under administrative detention, without charge or trial.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said he was detained "on suspicion of involvement with terrorist groups."
Hamas accused Israel of trying to prevent rival Palestinian factions from completing a unity deal after Dwiek's detention. Dweik is the most senior Hamas affiliate in the West Bank.
Some 25 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council are currently imprisoned in Israel, according to figures from prisoner rights group Addameer.
Twenty of the elected officials are being held in administrative detention without charge or trial.
Almost 5,000 Palestinians, including 132 minors, are held in Israeli jails, a practice which violates international law.
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