Israel Arrests Dozens Of Palestinian Students Over Alleged "Terror"

Dozens of students from Birzeit University were arrested by the Israeli army as they were returning by bus from the village of Turmus Ayya.

The Israeli army said Thursday it had arrested between 20 and 30 Palestinian students in the occupied West Bank it accused of being "terror operatives" of Islamist group Hamas. Palestinian sources told AFP that dozens of students from Birzeit University were arrested as they were returning by bus from the village of Turmus Ayya where earlier this month Israeli troops demolished the family home of a Palestinian American awaiting trial on charges of shooting a Jewish student in the West Bank earlier this year. An Israeli army statement said: "Some of the apprehended terror operatives were directly involved in terror activities, including money transfers, incitement and the organisation of Hamas activities in Judea and Samaria," using the Biblical terms for the West Bank. Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip and fought an 11-day conflict with Israel in May, is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States.