Rabin sealed Gaza, mistakenly believing that Wachsman had been taken there. The move cut off tens of thousands of Palestinian laborers from their jobs in Israel. He also called Arafat on the telephone and placed full responsibility for Wachsman's well-being on his shoulders. Arafat responded by denouncing the abduction of Wachson as an attempt to "embarrass" the Palestinian Authority (PA). A senior PA official commented that "the PA is committed to undertaking every possible effort to find Wachson, because his abduction is a personal affront to Yassir Arafat." Over the next few days Arafat's PA security forces began cracking down and arresting dozens of Hamas officials and stopping Hamas demonstrations. Over 200 Hamas members were arrested.