JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli soldiers searched the West Bank
on Friday for three missing teenagers from nearby settlements, one of
them a U.S. citizen, feared kidnapped by Palestinian militants,
authorities said.
Authorities offered little detail, with local
media only reporting the hitchhiking teenagers left their Yeshiva, or
religious seminary, on Thursday night and had not been seen since.
Soldiers near Hebron combed the rocky hills of the West Bank searching
for them Friday.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the
disappearances, which comes after the formation of a Palestinian unity
government following the collapse of U.S.-brokered peace talks.
Two
Israeli defense officials said authorities believed the teens likely
were kidnapped by Palestinian militants, without elaborating. They spoke
on condition of anonymity as they were not allowed to brief
journalists.
"The main mission is to ensure their return," said Brig. Gen. Motti Almoz, a military
spokesman.
Tsuri
Tsuf, a spokesman for a settlement where one of the teens is from, told
Israel’s Channel 10 television that his community was "greatly worried"
and gathered to pray for the safety of the youths. Authorities found a
burned-out car during their search that investigators were examining.
Israel’s
Shin Bet intelligence agency initially imposed a gag order Friday
morning blocking local media from reporting on the incident. Later, an
official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press that
one of the teens was an American and that Israeli authorities notified
U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro. The official spoke on condition of
anonymity as he wasn’t authorized to publicly brief journalists.
The
three teens are from settlements in the West Bank, territory Israel
captured from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war and that Palestinians are
demanding as part of their future state along with the Gaza Strip and
east Jerusalem.
If Palestinians abducted the teens, it would be
the first serious incident to challenge relations with Israel since the
formation of a Palestinian unity government earlier this month, led by
President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and backed by the Islamic militant
group Hamas. The West and Israel consider Hamas a terror group because
of its deadly attacks targeting civilians.
Israeli media reported
that despite the friction, Israel and the Palestinian Authority were
working together in the West Bank to find the teens.
U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry called Abbas to talk about the missing
teenagers, and discussed the situation with Justice Minister Tzipi
Livni, at a meeting in London.
"We are working with the government
of Israel and with the Palestinian Authority to try to ensure the
situation is resolved quickly and that the three teenagers are safely
reunited with their families," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf
said.
Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Kerry also had
spoken with the Israeli prime minister. Netanyahu told Kerry he holds
the Palestinian Authority responsible for the teens’ safety. "This is
the result of a murderous terror organization entering the government,"
it quoted Netanyahu as saying.
Adnan Demeiri, spokesman of the
Palestinian security services, dismissed Netanyahu’s claims, saying the
teens’ disappearance happened in an area under Israeli security
protection.
Hamas frequently calls for the abduction of Israelis
and militants have kidnapped Israelis in the past. The Israeli military
has said it has foiled multiple Palestinian kidnapping attempts in
recent years and warns soldiers and civilians not to accept rides from
strangers. Despite the warnings, hitchhiking remains common in Israel.
While such incidents are relatively rare, it would not the first instance of Palestinians abducting
Israelis.
Last
year, a Palestinian lured an Israeli soldier to a village in the West
Bank and killed him in hopes of trading the body for his jailed brother.
And in 2001, a Palestinian woman lured an Israeli teenage boy over the
Internet to the West Bank where he was killed by waiting Palestinian
gunmen.
The woman, Amna Muna, was released in 2011 along with over
a thousand other Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a single Israeli
soldier, Gilad Schalit, held captive in Gaza by Hamas-allied militants
for more than five years.
Netanyahu told the teens’ families that Israel is "making every effort" to find them, his
office said in an earlier statement.
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Associated Press writer Lara Jakes in London contributed to this report.