(Newser)
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Israel today arrested three Palestinian lawmakers amid a roundup of 25 Hamas members in the West Bank, Global Post reports. Israel didn't explain the arrests but has discussed plans to detain more suspected militants in the wake of civil unrest, notes Breitbart. One of the detainees, still unidentified, was behind reconciliation talks between militant Hamas and its secular opponent Fatah. Hamas promptly criticized the roundup as an attempt to derail the reconciliation, reports the Jerusalem Post.
An official in a multi-party Palestinian group condemned the "arbitrary arrests," saying that "Israel has violated international law and the most basic norms of human rights." Israel is already holding more than 4,500 Palestinians, 12 of whom are Palestinian parliament members. Israel once held far more Palestinians but released over a thousand in 2011 in a trade for soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held by Palestinian militants for more than five years.
