RAMALLAH, March 29 (Xinhuanet) -- The Palestinians returned a female Israeli soldier to an Israeli army base in the West Bank Tuesday, three days after she escaped from the base to meet her Palestinian boyfriend, Palestinian security sources said.

    The sources, speaking on conditions of anonymity, said that the 18-year-old Israeli soldier went to the West Bank town of Beit Sahour, south of Bethlehem, to meet her boyfriend she get acquainted with a few months ago near Tel Aviv.

    The sources said that the girl's family informed the Israeli police that she intended to marry her Palestinian boyfriend and that she disappeared three days ago.

    Israeli police at first suspected that the girl might be kidnapped by militant groups in the West Bank. But the girl called her family and told them that she was with her boyfriend and wanted to get married.

    The sources said that the Israeli police contacted their Palestinian counterpart who convinced her boyfriend to bring her back. Enditem