PLO employee arrested for alleged spying for Israel

JERUSALEM

An employee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) who was reportedly close to the organization’s negotiation team has been arrested on charges of "collaborating" with Israel, the Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported Sunday.

Ma'an quoted an unnamed PLO official as saying that the arrested employee had not been directly involved in earlier negotiations with Israel, which had been led by PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat before they broke down in 2014.

The news agency also quoted Palestinian security sources as saying that the "administrative employee" -- who, it reported, had admitted to passing confidential information to Israeli authorities -- had been arrested following extensive surveillance.

Palestinian government institutions are now in the process of assessing the potential political impact of the alleged security breach.