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Israel on high alert after siegeLast of 11 hostages released by Palestinian militants
JERICHO, West Bank (CNN) -- Israel is on high alert following the siege of a prison in the West Bank city of Jericho and the arrest of wanted Palestinian prisoners. Palestinians on Wednesday promised a wave of demonstrations and strikes, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cut short a trip to Europe to deal with the fallout. Abbas visited the prison Wednesday and said the raid by Israel a day earlier was a "crime that cannot be forgiven." Also Wednesday, Palestinian sources said the last of 11 people kidnapped by Palestinian militants after the siege had been released. On Tuesday, six Palestinian inmates surrendered after holing up for hours against a raid by Israeli troops using tanks and helicopters, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. According to Palestinian security sources, four people were killed and 35 wounded in the 10-hour Israeli siege. Israel had moved in to seize the prisoners after U.S. and British monitors left the compound and Palestinian guards clashed with Israeli forces, leaving a Palestinian policeman dead and several others wounded. (Full story) The IDF operation came a week after Abbas said he was prepared to free one of the six, Ahmed Saadat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), who allegedly ordered the 2001 killing of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi. The six will be taken to Israeli prisons, IDF officials said. Abbas admitted that the international monitors had warned the Palestinian Authority they intended to pull out but said they gave no time. "What happened is a crime that cannot be forgiven and an insult to the Palestinian people and violation of the agreement," Abbas said. "I admit that they informed us that they intend to withdraw, but they didn't tell us when. We are not blamed on this. We hold no responsibility." Abbas said the Palestinian Authority had proposed transferring the six to the Muqata compound in Ramallah but got no answer to the proposal. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the prisoners would receive fair trials. "The problem was that you have a Palestinian leadership that said publicly that these people deserved to be let out and be free," Regev said. "And you had a situation where they created circumstances under which the international monitors were forced to leave." All hostages freedMeanwhile, Palestinian militants on Wednesday released four hostages who were kidnapped following the Israeli attack on the prison, Palestinian security sources said. The sources said militants released three journalists -- two Frenchmen and a South Korean -- as well as a Canadian. On Tuesday, another seven people were abducted and held for a time by Palestinian militants before being released. Palestinian militants also attacked the British consulate, an American school and a European Union monitors' office in Gaza Tuesday in reaction to the Israeli military siege on the prison. The American professor, Douglas Johnson, who teaches at the Arab-American University near the West Bank city of Jenin, said he remains sympathetic to the Palestinian people. "It won't change my commitment. I understand what they did. I understand their frustration. They could have easily killed me," Johnson said. CNN's John Vause and Guy Raz contributed to this report. 
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