Israeli commandos have freed unharmed an Israeli taxi driver held by Palestinians in a kidnapping that interrupted relative calm ushered in by a Palestinian ceasefire crucial to a US-backed peace plan.
In London, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called on Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to disarm and dismantle militant groups to bolster the Middle East "road map" to peace.
The release of Mr Eliahu Gurel, in his early 60s, came a day after a Palestinian fatally stabbed an Israeli strolling along the Tel Aviv seaside promenade in the first militant attack inside Israel since the truce was declared on June 29th.
"In a combined operation, a large number of forces rescued Eliahu Gurel from his Palestinian kidnappers tonight," an army spokesman said.
The elite security forces were led to Mr Gurel by two kidnappers arrested earlier in the day. A third was detained while trying to escape during the rescue, the army said.
Mr Gurel went missing on Friday, his cab reportedly found with engine running in an Arab neighbourhood of East Jerusalem.
"I picked up passengers on the side of the road. I almost never do this but because of the little girl, I decided to take them," Mr Gurel said of his last fare before the abduction.
"In French Hill in Jerusalem it was a different story. Someone took out a knife and held it to my neck... I was held in a pit over the last two days," Mr Gurel told Israeli army radio. No group claimed responsibility for Gurel's kidnapping.