Israeli soldiers abducted, on Wednesday evening, legislator Azzam Salhab, 54 years old, from the southern West Bank city of Hebron, after stopping him at a military roadblock near Jericho city. Local sources reported that Salhab and a number of legislators were stopped at a roadblock near Jericho, and were all detained for more than one hour. The other legislators were released later on, while Salhab was kidnapped and transferred to Etzion detention center, north of Hebron.
An assistant to Salhab stated that the legislator was heading back to Hebron after visiting a mourning house for one of his relatives in the northern part of the West Bank.
On September 8, 2010, Salhab was released from an Israeli detention camp after spending 18 month under administrative detention without charges. This is the third time Salhab has been taken by the army since he was elected to the Legislative Council in 2006.
There are currently nine elected Hamas legislators imprisoned by Israel, in addition to two Fatah legislators and one legislator of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Recently, Israel transferred six legislators of Hamas’s Change and Reform Bloc, to administrative detention for six months.
