Israel Arrests 376 Arabs in West Bank Raid

Israeli security forces arrested 376 Palestinians in the West Bank on Thursday in the biggest raid to date in an area under its joint control with the Palestinian Authority.

The sweep against students from Birzeit University sparked stone-throwing demonstrations by Palestinians against Israeli soldiers in joint patrols with Palestinian police on the outskirts of the Palestinian-ruled town of Ramallah.

The Israeli army said the students were arrested “in a combined operation of the General Security Service, the IDF [Israeli army] and the border police initiated last night.”

Deputy Defense Minister Ori Orr said the soldiers were looking for suspects from the Islamic group Hamas, which has claimed responsibility for killing 58 people in four recent suicide bombings. Four bombers also died in the attacks. The troops were also looking for students from the Gaza Strip banned from the area.

The raid was the largest sweep against Palestinians in the West Bank since Israel handed over six West Bank cities to Palestinian self-rule and established joint control over hundreds of villages such as Birzeit last year.

Israel has taken overall security responsibility in the villages.

As news of the Israeli raid reached Ramallah, about 200 university students marched to the joint Israeli-Palestinian security liaison office and pelted Israeli soldiers with stones.

Witnesses said Israeli and Palestinian security officers pointed weapons at each other when the Israeli force tried to fire at the demonstrators. There were no reports of injuries.

An Israeli army spokesman said the arrests raised to 806 the number of Palestinians detained since the crackdown against Muslim militants began March 4.