RAMALLAH, West Bank — In the late hours of April 12, Israeli special forces arrested Najeh Assi, a candidate for the Hamas movement in the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections and the movement’s representative in Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate, after raiding his home in the city of al-Bireh near Ramallah in the central West Bank.
Assi’s arrest came less than a week after Hassan al-Wardian, another Hamas candidate, was arrested April 6 at dawn. after Israeli forces raided his house in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.