Israeli officer jailed for straying into WBank town

JERUSALEM, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The Israeli army today punished an officer who mistakenly entered a Palestinian town, where Palestinian security men rescued him from angry residents who torched his vehicle.

A military statement said a court martial found the officer, a major, guilty of ignoring travel regulations in the occupied West Bank, and ordered him jailed for 28 days.

Islamic Jihad militants said they had tried to grab the officer in the town of Jenin on Monday, but he was whisked away by security men loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas and returned to Israeli forces, in a new sign of cooperation with Israel.

Jenin has been considered a militant stronghold by Israel since the start of a Palestinian uprising in 2000.

Abbas's Fatah faction holds sway in the West Bank, where he established a government after Hamas Islamists took over the Gaza Strip in fighting in June.

Reuters SS RN1921