Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has urged the immediate release of the three teenagers kidnapped in the West Bank last Thursday.
“Those who perpetrated this act want to destroy us [the Palestinians],” Abbas said during a visit to Saudi Arabia. “The three young men are human beings just like us and must be returned to their families,” he added.
Israeli forces, aided by PA security services, have been engaged in a widespread operation against Hamas in the West Bank since the kidnapping south of Jerusalem of Eyal Yifrach, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16 and Naftali Frankel, 16. Israeli officials have blamed Hamas for the abduction, as have Western officials, including US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Abbas, who first condemned the kidnapping on Monday, also mentioned that he had been in conversation with US officials. One of the captives, Naftali Frankel, is an American citizen. “We told them that whether Israeli or American, he is a human being,” he said.
Abbas also vowed not to resort to arms or allow Palestinians to launch another intifada (armed uprising) against Israel. “It is in our interest to have security coordination with Israel because that would help protect us,” he said. “I say it frankly, we will never have another intifada - that would destroy us,” he added, according to the 'Times of Israel'.
Abbas also accused Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu of exploiting the kidnapping as a pretext to send the military into PA-controlled territory even though the abduction took place in an area of the West Bank that is not under Palestinian jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, more than 50 Palestinians released in 2011 as part a deal to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit are back in custody after they were arrested during Israeli military operations to locate the three missing teenagers. The arrests – 65 in total – bring the number of Palestinians detained during the military campaign to locate the teenagers to 240, the Israeli military confirmed on Wednesday. Many of those arrested were seized in raids on houses in Hebron and Nablus.
