Israel releases Hamas-affiliated Palestinian MP from jail
Nayef Rajoub, brother of PA soccer chief Jibril, was detained last year during hunt for missing teens
Israel released a Hamas-affiliated Palestinian parliament member Thursday after a year in administrative detention.
Nayef Rajoub was arrested in June 2014 during an Israeli effort to locate three three missing Jewish teenagers in Palestinian controlled areas of the West Bank. The three were later found to have been murdered by Hamas terrorists.
Following his release from Ofer Prison, Rajoub was taken to a Ramallah hospital for medical tests, according to reports in Palestinian media.
Rajoub is the brother and political rival of Jibril Rajoub, a Fatah official and former national security adviser to Yasser Arafat. Jibril currently serves as the head of the Palestinian Football association, and spearheaded recent efforts to have Israel banned from FIFA over its alleged mistreatment of Palestinians, only to drop the bid at the last minute.
Nayef Rajoub has been arrested five times by Israel, and once by his brother during a 1996 crackdown on Hamas officials by a Fatah task force.
Rajoub spent four years in an Israeli prison after being arrested in 2006 amid clashes between Palestinian militants and Israeli security forces sparked by the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit,