Marwan Barghouti, suspected of orchestrating many terrorist attacks against Israeli targets, was arrested this afternoon by an elite Israeli army unit in Ramallah, near Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat's presidential compound. He is currently being interrogated in the Russian Compound of the Israeli Police in Jerusalem.

Israeli forces have been conducting a manhunt for Barghouti, Secretary General of Arafat's Fatah organization and commander of its Tanzim military wing, ever since launching Operation Defensive Shield two and a half weeks ago. He was widely considered #1 on Israel's "most wanted" list. Security forces had occupied his home in a Ramallah suburb and it was suspected that he took refuge in the headquarters of the Palestinian Preventive Security in Beituniya, but he managed to escape.

According to media reports, Barghouti was arrested along with his nephew, Ahmad Barghouti, one of the leaders of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, and his driver. Israeli soldiers from the Egoz unit surrounded the building in which he was hiding and called on loudspeakers for him to surrender. Although his nephew and others in the building claimed Marwan Barghouti was not present, the Tanzim leader left the building without resistance and was arrested, ynet reported. "He looked stunned and pressured, spoke with us in Hebrew and said that he was offering no resistance," said an Israeli officer at the location.

A senior Israeli Commander, Brig. General Gershon Yitzhak, approached Barghouti and offered him water, assuring him that the troops had no intention of shooting, and only wanted to arrest him. He reportedly calmed down a bit and entered a white van with his nephew Ahmad, and was taken away to Jerusalem for interrogation, ynet reported.

Barghouti is considered one of the most active Palestinians behind the violence and terror of the Intifada. He was present on the Temple Mount during the initial riots that followed the visit there of Ariel Sharon, then the opposition leader. He is believed to have written the first "manifestos" inciting violent action. Due to his media exposure and rising political standing, it was assumed that Barghouti was "immune to Israeli capture or liquidation." Tanzim militants, reportedly under Barghouti's command, perpetrated many recent terror attacks and he is well connected to other Palestinian terrorist groups as well, Israeli sources said.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, part of the Fatah organization with close ties to Barghouti, threatened to attack Israeli leaders and U.S. diplomats. A statement from the group warned that "if Barghouti is harmed, our hands will reach Sharon and [Israeli Army Chief of Staff Shaul] Mofaz. We know how to reach their homes and we warn the United States that if Barghouti is harmed, we will harm American ambassadors throught the whole world, and we will turn life in Israel into hell."

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