RAMALLAH – The Israeli army carried out an arrest campaign Monday against Palestinian activists in various West Bank governorates. The Palestinian sources said that the Israeli army arrested the 13 Palestinians in the governorates of Jenin, Nablus, Hebron, Bethlehem and Ramallah under the pretext that they were “wanted” for the Israeli internal intelligence Shin Bet. The Palestinian sources said that the Israeli soldiers thoroughly searched the houses of the residents before arresting them. They were taken to unknown locations for questioning by agents of Shin Bet. The Israeli army spokesman's unit said in a statement that “in light of recent terrorist and violent activity in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and as part of the security forces' attempt to restore calm to the area, the decision was made to carry out the arrests.” “The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will continue to operate to maintain order in the area and to prevent the infiltration of terrorists into Israeli communities,” the statement said. The development comes days after an unnamed Israeli security official said that Israel is stepping up arrests of Hamas members and other anti-Israel activists in the West Bank in order to preempt a possible Palestinian uprising. The official reportedly said that Israel was trying to prevent low-intensity flareups from turning into a mass uprising against Israel. According to Israeli media reports, the flames of unrest in the West Bank surfaced following the UN recognition of a nonmember observer state of Palestine in November. “There is a certain (Palestinian) awakening,” the official said. “As a consequence a decision was taken within the security establishment to increase intelligence activity and arrests among members of Hamas or activists against Israel… It started in the past few days and will increase.” Israeli Army's Col. Yaniv Alaluf also told reserve troops last week that the third Palestinian intifada is already under way, warning that things could get bad even without thousands of gunmen charging Israel's borders. “It doesn't take thousands of AK-47 assault rifles to create problems,” Alaluf said. Alaluf, the commander of the Etzion region brigade, said the army expects to see more clashes with Palestinians like one that took place last week in Jenin between Palestinian activists and Israeli army's elite under-cover Duvdevan (Cherry). “(Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas's process is over and has been replaced by the Hamas approach,” Alaluf said. “Abbas has no chance of survival in the Arab Spring, and he understands that the path of talks with Israel has come to an end. The question now is what will replace it.” “The third intifada won't be like the second one, which caught us unprepared,” said Alaluf. ”Today we're at a much better starting position. Terror won't make it to the center (of Israel) because our defense system is better prepared.” The first two intifadas, which started in 1987 and 2000, were characterized by widespread violence, civil disobedience and military attacks against Israel targets. The second intifada saw an onslaught of bombing attacks that declined as Israel constructed the West Bank separation wall. The Palestinian Authority (PA) says that the daily Israeli raids in the West Bank cities and villages hinder its security forces to tighten their grip on the Palestinian territories. According to the recent Palestinian statistics, Israel is holding 4,700 prisoners in 23 prisons and detention camps in Israel and in the West Bank of whom 198 children, 8 females, 14 members of Palestine Legislative Council. Abbas had repeatedly said the Palestinians will not sign any final peace agreement before Israel shuts down all its prisons and releases all the Palestinian prisoners, which were rejected by Israel.
