Speical Report: Israeli raid on prison

    RAMALLAH, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) slammed on Wednesday the Israeli army raid on a West Bank prison and the detention of a top militant as a "blatant assault" on the Palestinian sovereignty.

    Hamas leader in the West Bank Farahat Asad told reporters that the Israeli raid and detention of Ahmed Saadat showed the "aggressive mentality of the Zionist headquarters against the Palestinian legislative power and sovereignty. "He also claimed that Tuesday's raid on the major prison in the West Bank town of Jericho had been preplanned.

    "This attack came within a Zionist plan that has being prepared for years," he said.

    Asad also said that the Israeli operation was aimed at increasing tensions on the Palestinian territories and sabotaging efforts to form a Hamas-led new Palestinian government. The senior Hamas leader also reiterated the group's rejection of previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements, citing Israel's statement that a Palestinian-Israeli deal concerning the Jericho prison was invalid the moment British and U.S. monitors withdrew from the jail.

    "This announcement justifies Hamas' position of boycotting all agreements signed with the Zionist side," he noted. Israeli troops raided the Jericho prison on Tuesday and arrested prominent Palestinian militants jailed there, including Saadat who was leader of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He was accused of involvement in the 2001 killing of an Israeli minister.

    Under an internationally-brokered agreement, Saadat was put into the Jericho prison supervised by British and U.S. monitors in 2002.

    The British and U.S. monitors quit the prison on early Tuesday, shortly before the Israeli raid.

    Israel said the raid came after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said earlier that he would release Saadat. Hamas, which won the January legislative elections, is expected to form a new cabinet within weeks.

    Israel has vowed to cut all ties with the Palestinian government once Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, assumes power. Enditem