The Associated Press
Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001; 2:51 p.m. EST

JERUSALEM –– Elite Israeli soldiers posing as Arabs on Saturday captured a Palestinian woman suspected of luring an Israeli youth to his death in the West Bank through an exchange of e-mails, officials and news reports said.

The woman was captured in the village of Bir-Nabala near the West Bank town of Ramallah in an area under Israeli security control, the military command said. It declined to reveal further details.

Israeli news reports identified the suspect as Mona Najar, 25, who worked as a free-lance journalist and carried an Israeli identity card. She reportedly was seized before dawn at her parents' home in Bir-Nabala by soldiers from Israel's Duvdevan (Cherry) unit, who dress as Arabs to carry out special operations within the Palestinian areas.

Najar is suspected of being involved in the Internet exchange that led to the death of Ophir Rakhum, 16, from the coastal town of Ashkelon. According to friends, she told Rakhum in e-mails that she was an American tourist living in Jerusalem.

The two met once in Jerusalem and Rakhum left his home again this week to meet with the woman. He was somehow lured to Ramallah, where authorities say the woman's accomplices shot him to death Wednesday.

The killing shook Israel because of its cruelty, and prompted Prime Minister Ehud Barak to briefly postpone consideration of a Palestinian peace talks offer, which he eventually accepted Saturday.

Most Israelis believe Rakhum's killing to be a political murder though it could also be criminal as Rakhum reportedly carried a large sum of money with him.

Israel television said the Shin Bet security service was instrumental in locating the suspect with the help of information they managed to find stored in Rakhum's computer.