http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKL0915078820080709
Israeli troops raid city hall and mosques in West Bank
Wed Jul 9, 2008 7:21am BST
NABLUS, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops raided the city hall of the
West Bank town of Nablus on Wednesday, causing damage and seizing
computers, Palestinian officials said.
The troops also raided six mosques and confiscated three buses from an
Islamic school in town, the officials said.
An Israeli military spokesman said he was checking the re****ts of the
raid.
Nablus is governed by President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority,
but the Israeli army mounts frequent raids into the city in what the
military describes as attempts to prevent attacks by militants.
Acting Nablus mayor, Hafez Shahin, said: "The municipality is a service
institution. I see no reason to raid the place. I see it as an attack on
the Palestinian Authority."
Nablus stores and businesses announced a general strike in protest
against the raid.
Israel has stepped up a campaign against organisations in the occupied
West Bank which it says are linked to Hamas, the Islamist group that
seized the Gaza Strip from Abbas's Fatah faction a year ago and opposes
his talks with the Jewish state.
On Tuesday, Israeli forces raided a popular shopping mall in Nablus,
ordering its closure for two years over its owner's alleged links to the
Hamas.
(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Re****ting by Atef Sa'ad; Editing by
Caroline Drees)
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