Hamas armed wing warns PA over West Bank arrests

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

Agencies

The armed wing of the Hamas group and its allies said on Wednesday they would retaliate against the Western-backed Palestinian Authority if it continued to take action against their members in the occupied West Bank, Reuters reported.

The threat, made at a news conference in the Gaza Strip, underlined the depth of hostility between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) more than three years since the Islamist group seized control of Gaza in a brief civil war.

"We say today that our silence will not last long. If those [security] services pursue their aggression, we will end the silence," said Abu Ubaida, spokesman of the Hamas armed wing in the Gaza Strip. He was flanked by gunmen from allied factions.

Abu Ubaida of Hamas' Izzeddine Al Qassam Brigades was referring to a PA crackdown on Islamist activists including the sentencing this week of a Hamas fighter to 20 years in prison.

A PA spokesman said Alaa Abu Dhiyab, sentenced by a military court, was involved in the killing of three Palestinian officers in a shoot-out in the West Bank in 2009. Hamas says around 750 of its activists have been arrested by PA security forces since Hamas gunmen killed four Jewish settlers in the West Bank on August 31 - the eve of the launch of direct Middle East peace talks. Hamas opposes the US-backed talks.

Hamas accuses President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces of policing the West Bank on Israel's behalf. Abbas is a staunch supporter of peace negotiations aimed at creating a Palestinian state and is opposed to any violence against Israelis.

Abu Ubaida’s threat came less than two weeks after Hamas and Abbas’ Fateh faction agreed to revive efforts to narrow a schism between the two groups that has undermined the Palestinian cause.

If these reconciliation talks failed to ease the crackdown on Hamas, Abu Ubaida said “no one should blame us if we pursue the symbols of the Fateh authority wherever they exist”. Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal, who lives in exile in Damascus, met a senior Fateh official in Syria last month and further talks between the two sides are expected on October 20.

Accusations of political arrests by both sides are routine.

The Palestinian Authority, whose security forces are being retrained with US and European support, is determined to avoid any repeat of the Gaza takeover by Hamas.

The group, which defeated Fateh in a 2006 parliamentary election, is backed by Syria and Iran.

Last week, Palestinian Authority security forces also arrested a senior figure in the Islamic Jihad, a group allied to Hamas. Khader Adnan has been on a hunger strike for nearly a week in prison, Islamic Jihad said.

Israel’s security Cabinet met on Wednesday but, despite requests by several ministers, the renewal of a freeze on Jewish settlement building was not discussed, Agence France-Presse reported citing an observer at the session.

Ministers had asked that the 15-member policy-making body debate whether to accede to international demands for a renewal of a 10-month moratorium, which expired last week.

Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, a non-voting observer at Wednesday’s meeting, told Israeli public radio the issue was not put on the agenda.

A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the meeting dealt with strengthening Israel’s civil defense measures, in particular “to enable apartment owners to reinforce their buildings against the threat of missile attacks or earthquakes”.

Ministers in Netanyahu’s seven-member inner circle had met on Tuesday but again, the issue of the freeze was not discussed, despite Palestinian threats to bolt peace talks if it is not re-imposed.

Netanyahu had been expected to use both forums to try to achieve some kind of compromise over the settlements ahead of a key Arab League meeting in Libya on Friday at which the Palestinians are expected to formalize their decision.

Simhon, of the dovish Labor Party, said he feared the window of opportunity for forging an agreement with the Palestinians was about to slam shut.

“I’m definitely concerned,” he told the radio. “I think we find ourselves at a moment of truth at which the leadership of the state of Israel must take significant and difficult political decisions.”

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/?news=30723.