Palestinian Police Arrest Key PLO Figure, 9 Others

Palestinian police arrested 10 PLO activists Monday and Tuesday, including a former head of the Fatah office in the Gaza Strip, for blocking a road to a Jewish settlement.

The arrest of Sami abu Samhadaneh was the first detention of a key figure in the Palestine Liberation Organization structure since the May deployment of Palestinian police from outside the Gaza Strip.

He was released several hours after his arrest, along with the other activists.

Abu Samhadaneh, 32, who served many years in Israeli prisons, is popular among the Palestinian gunmen who have watched their power ebb with the arrival of the police. The gunmen have been relegated to lower-level police jobs--or nothing at all.

Abu Samhadaneh claimed that an Israeli sniper fired at his car Saturday night while he was passing the Jewish settlement of Netzarim south of Gaza City. Others say five bullets were fired.

Abu Samhadaneh returned to the settlement Sunday with nine other men, many of them armed, and blocked the entrance. Using a bullhorn, he demanded that the settlers hand over the shooter.

Palestinian police persuaded the men to leave, and they began rounding them up in Gaza City and their homes in Rafah on Monday. Abu Samhadaneh turned himself in Tuesday. The settlers denied that any shots were fired.