Palestinian Arab Minister, Hamas Officials Arrested by Israel

JERUSALEM — Israel arrested a Palestinian Arab minister and three West Bank mayors in a sweep of officials belonging to Hamas, the Islamic movement that shares control of the government with its rival Fatah faction, the army said.

Among 33 Palestinian Arabs arrested in the West Bank by Israel were the Hamas education minister, Nasser Saher, and mayors of Nablus, Qalqilya, and Beita. The sweep was the first of high-ranking members of Hamas since the arrests of five ministers and 15 lawmakers in June following the abduction of an Israeli soldier.

"Hamas is now trying to export its terrorist infrastructure to the West Bank," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its Web site. "The recent arrests carried out by Israel are part of a preventative security policy based on substantial intelligence."

The arrests came as fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs moved into its 10th day. About 160 unguided Kassam rockets launched from the Palestinian Arab-controlled Gaza Strip have hit Israel since May 15, including five yesterday, the army said. In response, Israel has launched about 40 airstrikes, killing more than 33 Palestinian Arabs.

In contrast to Gaza, the West Bank has been quiet this month, with neither the factional fighting between Hamas and Fatah gunmen that wracked Gaza nor clashes with Israel. The Fatah movement, which favors peace talks with Israel, is the dominant power in the West Bank. Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, is stronger in Gaza.

A Palestinian Arab government spokesman, Ghazi Hamad, called the arrests a "harsh and barbaric act" and accused Israel of "pushing the region into a new round of violence." Hamad said Palestinian Arabs were calling on the European Union, the United Nations, and other international organizations to impose sanctions on Israel.

A Palestinian Arab fisherman was killed on the Gaza beach by shots fired from an Israeli gunboat yesterday, a spokesman for the Kamal Adwan hospital said by phone. An Israeli army spokeswoman said a naval boat fired with light weapons at an abandoned fishing vessel and did not hit anyone.

Later in the day, Israel struck two Hamas installations, one in Gaza City and the other in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, the spokesman said. Six people were injured in the Gaza City attack, said a medic, who spoke on condition on anonymity, belonging to the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency medical service.

Israeli warplanes launched missiles at four Hamas targets in Gaza late Wednesday and early yesterday, including three Palestinian Arab businesses used as fronts to transfer Lebanese, Syrian, and Iranian funds to gunmen, an army spokeswoman said by phone, speaking anonymously by regulation.

The rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes came after the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, called a meeting of all factions in a bid to stop militants from launching more missiles at Israel. Mr. Abbas yesterday again called for a halt to the rockets.