A Jewish student foolishly hanging around the Palestinian town of Nablus was briefly kidnapped by Palestinian “activists” today, but when the kidnappers realized he was an American they dropped him like a hot potato: Palestinians hand over kidnapped American citizen to IDF. (Hat tip: Writer Mom.)

Members of an armed Fatah militia which claimed to have kidnapped an Israeli Saturday transferred the individual in question, a U.S. citizen, to the custody of the Palestinian Authority before dawn Sunday.

The PA security forces subsequently handed the American over to the Israel Defense Forces. Defense officials believe once the militants discovered the person was indeed an American citizen, they took steps to end the matter quickly.

“Apparently, the kidnappers did not want to end up like Zarqawi,” a defense official said.