Israel arrests 12 Hamas members in West Bank

NABLUS, West Bank (AFP) - Israeli troops arrested 12 Hamas members in a dawn raid in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, a Palestinian security official said, as part of a widening crackdown on the movement.

The troops rolled into the northern city of Nablus in about 40 jeeps and detained 12 members of the Islamist movement, including two women and two city council members, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

An Israeli army spokesman said seven Palestinians had been arrested during "routine searches" in the area.

Israel has launched a territory-wide crackdown on Palestinian charities and businesses it says are linked to the armed movement, which violently seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

Israel has long feared a repeat of the Gaza takeover -- in which gunmen swiftly routed forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas -- in the West Bank.

Abbas's government has however accused Israel of undermining its own efforts to improve security in the territory as part of US-sponsored peace talks relaunched in November.

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