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JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has arrested two Palestinian Authority officials suspected of helping kidnap a Palestinian resident in Jerusalem, their lawyers said on Sunday.
The two men arrested by Israel were Adnan Gheith, who was mainly the governor of the Palestinian-appointed governor of Jerusalem, and Jihad Al-Faqeeh, the head of the Palestinian intelligence service in the city.
They are believed to have helped kidnap a resident of Jerusalem two weeks ago, which has since been held by the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, their lawyers said. Both men deny the charges, they said.
Israeli police only said the two had been sent back to Tuesday.
The Palestinian Authority condemned what it described as an "abduction" of the two Palestinian officials, but did not comment on the details of the charges.
Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called for the release of the two leaders.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem after its capture during the 1967 war and considers the entire city as its capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state.
According to a report by Israeli television Reshet 13, the Palestinian resident of Jerusalem kidnapped two weeks ago has both an Israeli identity card and US citizenship.
He was wanted by the Palestinian Authority, according to the report, for helping to sell a property in the Old City of Jerusalem to Jewish buyers.
Asked about the report, a spokesman for the US embassy said: "We are aware of reports that a US citizen was arrested by the Palestinian Authority. When an American citizen is incarcerated or detained abroad, the State Department employs to provide all the appropriate consular assistance. "
The spokesman declined to give details, citing confidentiality issues.
Report by Dan Williams, Nidal al-Mughrabi, Ali Sawafta and Ari Rabinovitch; Edited by Adrian Croft
