Israel scours West Bank for teens feared abducted

JERUSALEM — 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.

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 without elaborating that authorities believed the teens likely were kidnapped by Palestinian militants. They spoke on condition of an- onymity.

Another official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said one of the teens was an American and that Israeli authorities notified U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro.

Tsuri Tsuf, a spokesman for the settlement where one of the teens is from, told Israeli television that his community was “greatly worried” and had gathered to pray for the safety of the youths. Authorities found a burned-out car during their search that investigators were examining.

The three teens are from settlements in the West Bank, territory Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war and that Palestinians claim 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 challenge to relations with Israel since the forma- tion of a Palestinian unity government this month, led by President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and backed by the Islamic militant group Hamas. The West and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist group.

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 Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Kerry also had spoken with him. 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,” the statement quoted Netanyahu as saying.