Israeli soldiers carry the body of a fellow soldier killed north of the occupied West Bank Saturday.

MAHMOUD SHANTI/AP

Israel: Palestinian abducts, kills soldier in West Bank

By Ian Deitch http://rochesterdemocrat.ny.newsmemory.com/

Associated Press

JERUSALEM — A Pales­tinian lured an Israeli sol­dier to a village in the West Bank and killed him with the intention of trad­ing the body for his broth­er jailed for terror at­tacks, Israel’s intelligence agency said Saturday, in a slaying that casts another shadow on U.S. mediated peace talks that restarted this summer.

The killing further sours the atmosphere for the Israeli-Palestinian ne­gotiations, which re­sumed in July for the first time in nearly five years. The deaths of several Pal­estinians in Israeli raids in the West Bank intended to detain militants involved in attacks has also caused tensions, with the Pales­tinian side cancelling one session last month in re­sponse. Israel has made its security concerns a top priority in talks.

The 20-year-old soldier was reported missing late Friday and Israeli forces began looking for him, the Shin Bet intelligence agency said. The search led the troops to Nidal Amar, a 42-year-old Pales­tinian from Beit Amin vil­lage near the city of Qalqi­liya in the northern West Bank.

Amar was arrested and confessed to killing the soldier, whom he knew be­cause they worked at the same restaurant in the coastal city of Bat Yam in central Israel, the agency said. The military identi­fied the slain soldier as Sgt. Tomer Hazan from Bat Yam.

According to Shin Bet, the Palestinian recounted how he had picked up Ha­zan in a taxi on Friday af­ter convincing him to ac­cept a ride. He took the Is­raeli to an open field, killed him and hid his body in a well, the agency said.

Israeli forces raided Amar’s home early Satur­day, interrogating and ar­resting Amar and his brother.

Shin Bet said Amar confessed to intending to trade Hazan’s body for an­other brother, in an Israeli jail since 2003 for his role in several terror attacks. He then showed the Israe­li forces where the body was hidden.

The latest death only increases the mistrust be­tween the two sides as they hold negotiations af­ter a hiatus of nearly five years. Talks collapsed in 2008, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spent months early this year persuading the sides to get talks back on track again.