HEBRON, January 31, 2011 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Monday arrested member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) from the Hamas-backed Change and Reform bloc, Muhammad Natsheh, 53, from Hebron, south of West Bank, security sources told WAFA.

Natsheh was arrested at his home, said the sources. The soldiers searched the house before taking him away.

The lawmaker was released from Israeli prisons only five months ago after spending eight-and-a-half years in jail, over half of them in solitary confinement.

Israel previously arrested most of the West Bank Change and Reform lawmakers following the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June 2006 near Gaza. Most of them, however, were released after spending several years in prison.

However, Israel re-arrested seven of the lawmakers since December. There are also three other lawmakers in Israeli jails; two from Fatah – Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences, and Jamal Tirawi - and the general secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmad Saadat.

R.Q.