RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Israeli troops seized two Hamas leaders in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, three days after they were briefly held and questioned by security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said Faraj Rummana and Hussein Abu Kwaik were arrested in Ramallah for their "overall activities" in the Islamist group, which refuses to renounce violence against the Jewish state and is locked in a bitter struggle with Abbas's secular, Western-backed Fatah faction.

The two men were being interrogated but it was not immediately clear if they would be prosecuted, the spokeswoman said. They previously served prison sentences in Israel for militant activities.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Preventive Security Service detained Rummana and Abu Kwaik. Rummana later said he and Abu Kwaik were questioned about the latter's public criticism of crackdowns on Hamas in the West Bank, where Fatah holds sway.

A Palestinian security official told the two men before they were released to ensure that Hamas "did not make trouble" during U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to the West Bank and Israel, which begins on Wednesday, Rummana said.

Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June after routing Fatah forces there. Fatah says many of its Gaza supporters have been questioned or jailed by Hamas since. Hamas has said the arrests are not politically motivated. (Reporting by Mohammed Assadi and Dan Williams; editing by Matthew Tostevin)

AlertNet news is provided by