Palestinian Authority detained 35 Hamas leaders

Palestinian police detained 35 members of the Hamas and Jihad movements in west Gaza yesterday.

A senior Palestinian Liberation Organization official said the security forces detained yesterday 35 extremists in the West Bank, in the aftermath of a triple-suicide-bombing in a Jerusalem mall; the detainees belong to the banned Hamas and Jihad movements.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN Yasser Arafat ought to abide by his commitment to fight what he called terrorists and stop spoiling them so that a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement could be reached, Al-Ahram daily reported today.

As US State Secretary Madeleine Albright is preparing to pay the Middle East region a visit, Arab American organizations' leaders urged Bill Clinton to be fair regarding his Middle East policy and the peace process.