Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations

    RAMALLAH, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Israeli troops arrested 14 Palestinians in the West Bank in a continued crackdown against what the Jewish state called as wanted Palestinian activists, Palestinian sources said Wednesday.

    The arrests took place during raids into the cities of Bethlehem, Qalqilya, Ramallah and Hebron, according to the sources.

    On Tuesday, the Israeli troops also arrested 32 Palestinians. These detentions came right after Israeli outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised to free 250 Palestinian prisoners on Monday during a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem.

    Meanwhile, a Hamas-run prisoner rights association slammed the Israeli decision to free 250 prisoners loyal to Abbas' Fatah movement.

    "This gesture boosts the internal Palestinian split," the Wa'ed Society said in a press release, adding that "The release of the 250 prisoners is a despair attempt to get concessions to the (Hamas) demand to free the soldiers."

    Hamas has demanded Israel to free more than 1,000 prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier Hamas had kidnapped in a cross-border raid near Gaza Strip in 2006.

    Hamas controls the Gaza Strip while its rival Fatah rules the West Bank.