Jihad official tells Hamas inquiry must be fair

Source : Maan News Agency

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Islamic Jihad leader Ahmad al-Mdlal said Monday that Hamas police made a mistake in killing one of it's members during a gunfight and called for a fair inquiry into the death.

Hamas' interior ministry commissioned the inquiry Monday following the death of Raed Qassim Jundeyeih, a member of Islamic Jihad's militant wing, the Al-Quds Brigades, who died on Sunday after being shot a day earlier by Hamas police officers.

Al-Mdlal told Ma'an that his movement's relationship with Hamas "is still the same and has not changed," despite Islamic Jihad saying Sunday that it was temporarily suspending ties with the Gaza government.

Jundeyeih's family said the pathologist's report confirmed he had died of wounds caused by Hamas police bullets.

Hamas government spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein said: "I hope everyone will await the results of the commission of inquiry which has begun its work."

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said "contacts are continuing between Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have strong ties".

The interior ministry said Jundiya had opened fire on police, prompting them to respond.

Police had gone to an address in Gaza City on Saturday to deliver summons orders to a member of the Jundeyeih family. Upon approaching the home, members of the family opened fire at the officers and Jundeyeih was wounded in the ensuing gunfight.

One of the Jundeyeih relatives is on the panel investigating the death.

The Islamic Jihad leader also reiterated earlier party comments that Jundeyeih had been a "wanted" man by Israel.

"Killing Raed Jundeyeih is like giving a free gift to Israel," al-Mdlal told Ma'an.

Islamic Jihad denies rocket fire

Al-Mdlal denied that Islamic Jihad had launched rockets into southern Israel on Sunday evening, saying: "Rocket fire is a normal response to the Israeli crimes."

The Israeli army shelled Gaza overnight in response to rocket fire, saying it targeted two weapon storage facilities and a rocket launch site and that Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system had intercepted two rockets.

Locals said four Islamic Jihad military sites were hit in the air raid, as well as tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border and empty areas.

Speaking to public radio on Monday morning, head of the parliamentary foreign and defense committee Avigdor Lieberman said Israel should consider reoccupying the Gaza Strip and "cleansing" it.

Iran cuts Hamas funding over Syria

Source : Telegraph

Iran has cut up to £15 million a month in funding for Hamas as punishment for the movement's backing for the uprising in Syria, the Palestinian Islamist group's leaders have admitted.

The two former close allies have also ceased military cooperation, effectively ending a warm relationship that saw Tehran provide weapons, technical know-how and military training to Hamas fighters.

The rupture has been caused by Hamas's refusal to toe the Iranian line by supporting President Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite regime is religiously loosely related to the Shia Islam practiced by Iran's ruling theocracy.

Islamic Jihad leader: Fatah, Hamas not ready to end split

Source : Maan News Agency

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Talks between Fatah and Hamas on Tuesday and Wednesday accomplished little as the parties failed to reach any agreement, a top Islamic Jihad official said Thursday.

Abu Imad al-Rifaei, the Islamist group's representative in a committee preparing for national elections, told Ma'an that the talks focused on the makeup of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Palestinian National Council.

But he said neither Fatah nor Hamas seemed serious about ending the division and implementing a reconciliation deal signed in 2011.

Al-Rifaei, who also serves as Islamic Jihad's representative in Lebanon, blasted the talks as a "waste of time."

He expressed strong doubts that elections were on the horizon but he said if they took place, Islamic Jihad would field candidates for the national council and PLO executive committee. The faction does not participate in legislative or presidential elections, he noted.

Asked about the situation in Syria, al-Rifaei denounced Israel's bombing in early May of a regime facility in Damascus. He says Islamic Jihad stands by any country facing Israeli attacks and will respond as it sees fit

Official: Palestinian Nation Not to Withdraw from Legitimate Rights

Source : Fars News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- A senior official of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine condemned the Zionist regime for its attempts to legitimize its illegal settlements on Palestinian lands, and stressed that the Palestinian nation will never give up its legitimate rights.

"The occupying regime's decision to legitimize four settlements and the measures taken by the occupiers is a firm reason showing their expansionist and colonial goals and their efforts to render useless every possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Qais Abdulkarim told FNA on Sunday.

He said that the Palestinian nation will not accept the imposition of Israel's wills, and stressed that the Palestinian people are seriously seeking to materialize their legitimate rights and will not give up their struggle for forming an independent Palestinian government inside the June 1967 borders with the holy Qods city as its capital.

UN Human Rights Council released a report in February in which it called on the Israeli government to evacuate all the settlements set up on Palestinian territories, considering that the presence of those settlements lead to the violation of Palestinians rights.

After the report, Hamas movement hailed the report of the UN Human Rights Council which calls for the evacuation of all settlements in the Palestinian occupied territories.

Sami Abu Zuhri, the movement spokesman, said, "This UN report represents a positive step and is in the right way; but it needs practical steps to force the occupation to comply with it".

He called for imposing sanctions to deter the occupation from stealing Palestinian lands and forcibly displacing its people.

Abu Zuhri stressed the need to force the occupation authorities to stop the settlement activity and the Judaization policy pursued against the city of Jerusalem.

He also asserted that the Palestinian people have the right to confront and resist the settlement building and the occupation crimes by all available means

Hamas to Qatar ‘leave us alone’

Source : islamicinvitationturkey.com

A high-ranking Hamas leader, Mahmoud al-Zahar, has denounced Qatari Emir’s plan for some changes in ‘Arabian peace.’ Hamad bin Jasim, whose country is the president of Arabian Peace Plan committee, said that “both sides should exchange the disputed lands based on 1967 borders, and go for a two state solution.”

Palestinian groups evaluated Jasim’s remarks as legitimizing Israeli settlements and as indifference on Israeli attempt to announce the Jerusalem as its capital. Mahmoud al-Zahar, Hamas senior leader, who was addressing the meeting of students in Gaza Islamic University, said that “Arab Ministers Council decisions in Washington are giving advantage to those who do not deserve it.”

Zahar addressed the Arab Ministers Council. “If this is your approach, then leave us and Palestinian issue alone, since we are better entitled to the right of defending it and would sacrifice our lives, and definitely we will be winner,” asserted he.

“We will not retreat from our lands, and would not exchange part of it with other part, and would not allow those who are not our representatives to bestow our rights to others,” he added. “1948 occupied territories are our right, and we would not exchange it with 1967 lands. Whole Palestine belongs to all Palestinians, and we reject the retreat, and state that no one other than the owners of these lands would live on them, and this is an everlasting principle,” Zahar said.

Analysts believe that Zahar’s remarks is crucial for a Hamas position, since he is an influential figure, and commander of Qassam Brigades, which no act would be done without his consent.

Zahar’s group is an effective Hamas faction. Zahar has opposed some Hamas members’ taking sides with Syrian opposition fighters.

Hamas arrests Salafists in Gaza

Source : The Daily

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: The Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers have arrested several radical Salafists, the Palestinian movement's interior ministry said on Thursday, two days after Israel carried out an air strike on a militant in the territory.

"The internal security apparatus has arrested fanatics calling themselves Salafists, for security and criminal reasons.

There were no arrests made for ideological or political reasons," a ministry statement said.

"Four of those arrested were taken in on suspicion of stealing rockets belonging to Hamas, and two others for causing an unspecified explosion that resulted in "human and material damage," it added, without giving a total number.

The Mujahedeen Shura Council (MSC) Salafist group, one of whose members was killed in the air strike on Gaza City on Tuesday, said the jihadists were being detained for ideological reasons.

Salafists in Gaza -- who are considered more hardline than the Islamist Hamas -- have challenged the movement both over confrontations with Israel and the practice of Islamic rule, prompting it to crack down on their militant activities.

The MSC implicitly denied stealing any rockets.

Israel's air force targeted Haitham al-Mishal as he rode his motorcycle in western Gaza City on Tuesday, it said in a statement.

Israel said Mishal was involved in an April 17 rocket attack launched from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, adjoining Gaza, which struck the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat causing no casualties.

The MSC has claimed a number of rocket attacks in the past few months, all except that of April 17 being launched from the Gaza Strip.

Hamas arrests two accused of firing rockets

Source  :  Al Akhbar English

Hamas, which governs in the Gaza strip, has arrested two hardline Islamists in connection with rocket attacks fired across the border, sources close to a Salafist group said Thursday.

The Hamas interior ministry, however, denied any arrests had been made for "resistance against the occupation."

Hamas's "internal security apparatus in the last two days arrested two mujahedeen. One was released after several hours. The other is still detained," a Salafist source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The source said it was part of a "campaign to pursue Salafists after the targeting of Israel with rockets."

A Gaza-based Salafist group claimed firing rockets on Tuesday and Wednesday that landed in open fields, causing no damage or casualties. In response, Israel carried out two air strikes, also without causing harm.

Crossfire between Gaza and Israel began on Tuesday after the death of Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh, a Palestinian prisoner who died from cancer after allegedly being denied medical treatment in Israeli jails.

Protests and clashes have erupted in the West Bank as a response, and many cities observed a general strike Wednesday.

Two Palestinian teenagers were shot dead late Wednesday in one of the clashes by an Israeli army military post in Tulkarem.

The Islamist movement Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, has regularly cracked down on hardline Salafists in the territory, notably in 2009.

"Our security apparatus is part of the resistance and does not arrest anyone who resists the occupation. On the contrary, we encourage resistance," Islam Shahwan, interior ministry spokesman, said.

The Mujahedeen Shura Council, meanwhile, urged "the rational- minded in Hamas to pressure its security to release Salafists" in a statement on Thursday.

In response to the rocket attacks Israel has tightened a maritime restriction barring Gaza fishermen from operating more than three nautical miles off the Mediterranean coast.

The already stringent limits were tightened from six miles on March 21 after Salafist militants fired two rockets at southern Israel as US President Barack Obama was visiting the country.

Israel also closed down Kerem Shalom, Gaza's only goods crossing, and imposed tight restrictions on travel into and out of the territory via the northern Erez terminal which was limited to medical emergencies only.

A week later, the restrictions on the two crossings were lifted and Kerem Shalom and Erez began operating as normal.

But the fishing limitations were left in place, Palestinian officials said, with the Israeli army confirming it was a political decision taken after an uptick in rocket fire this week.

Last week, two Israeli rights groups Gisha and B'Tselem, demanded that Israel lift the fishing restrictions, saying the measure amounted to "collective punishment."

Israeli jets attacks Gaza desert

Vesti Kavkaza

Israeli combat jets attacked the desert areas of the Gaza Sector last night, making the first attack of Israel in the territory since the cease-fire agreement made in November 2012.

The attack is believed to have been carried out as a warning to Hamas in response to missile attacks

Qatar promoted Mashal re-elected as Hamas leader

Source  :  Vesti Kavkaza

Khaled Mashal has been re-elected as the leader of Hamas at a meeting in Damascus, Anadolu reports.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar and Turkey promoted Mashal for re-election. Hamas re- elects its leader among representatives of the Gaza Sector, Western Bank of River Jordan and diasporas once in every four years.

Israeli Forces Detain Hamas Leaders in Hebron

Source  :  Fars News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- Israeli forces raided the Southern West Bank city of Hebron and detained five local Hamas leaders, local sources said.

Israeli forces ransacked several homes of Hamas leaders before detaining five of them, Ma'an reported Wednesday.

The detainees were identified as Muhammad Natsha, a Hamas-affiliated lawmaker, Abdul-Khaliq Hasan Natsha, Muhammad Tahsin Shawar, Amjad Hamouri and Jawad Muhammad al-Jaabari.

They were all taken to unknown locations.

A military spokeswoman confirmed the arrests but put the number at six.

"They were all members of Hamas," the spokeswoman said.

Separately, Israeli soldiers stormed the home of a Hebron man in Eastern Hebron and turned it into a military base.

Salameh Salaymah said that Israeli troops raided his three-story home at dawn and forced him to gather his 15 family members and stay in the first floor.

Meanwhile, the soldiers stationed themselves on the third floor.

Turkish prime minister to visit Gaza

Source :  Trend.Az

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will visit the Gaza Strip, head of the Hamas government in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh said, CNN Türk reported.

However, he did not specify the date of Erdoğan's visit to Gaza, noting that the visit will take place in the near future. According to Haniyeh, the normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel is a diplomatic victory for Ankara.

"I am sure if Israel has promised Turkey to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, Tel Aviv will fulfill its promise," Haniyeh said.

The agreement on the normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel was reached on Friday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan apologized for violations committed during maritime operation that could cause death of Turkish citizens.

As reported by the Office of the Israeli Prime Minister, heads of governments agreed on the restoration of normal relations, including the return of the ambassadors and Turkey's refusal of legal harassment of Israeli soldiers.

 

Hamas accuses Israel of reducing Gaza fishermen's work space

Source : http://www.globaltimes.com

Hamas on Friday accused Israel of violating an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire by restoring restrictions on Gaza fishermen's work space.

The Israeli decision to reduce the fishing space to three nautical miles coincides with the closure of the only commercial crossing point for Gaza Thursday in response to rockets fired from Gaza on Israeli targets, which left no injuries.

"This is a clear violation of the ceasefire and we blame the Israeli occupation on any consequences of this decision," Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesperson of the Islamic movement, told Xinhua.

Abu Zuhri called on Egypt, in its capacity as the sponsor of the truce, "to follow up" with Israel and "shoulder its responsibility regarding this violation," stressing that the Palestinian factions will stay committed to the truce.

The agreement reached last November, which ended eight days of cross-border fighting between Hamas militants and Israel, requires Israel to increase the fishing space to six nautical miles, adding more facilities at the crossing point and canceling a 300-meter- wide buffer zone along its borders with Gaza.

An Al-Qaida-linked group, which has often challenged Hamas' rule in Gaza, claimed responsibility for firing the rockets into Sderot on Thursday, the second of their kind since the ceasefire.

The Israeli army said Thursday that one of the rockets hit the yard of a house in the southern town of Sderot, another landed in an open area in Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council, and two others fell short inside Gaza.

The rockets firing came as US President Barack Obama was visiting Israel and the West Bank.

Last month, Israel said Palestinian militants fired a Grad rocket into the southern coastal city of Ashkelon.

On the other hand, the Israeli army have killed four Palestinians and wounded dozens in separate incidents since the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire took effect.

Hamas threatens to issue own passports for Gaza people

Source :   Xinhua

RAMALLAH, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Hamas accused Tuesday the rival Fatah movement of "depriving thousands of Gaza people of passports, " threatening to issue its own version of Palestinian travel documents.

Ibrahim Salah, spokesperson of the Hamas interior ministry, accused the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the West Bank, where President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party holds sway, of " depriving thousands of Gaza people of passports."

He cited that some patients died while waiting for passports to go for treatment in Egypt "because of the procrastination by the Ramallah government."

According to Salah, Hamas demanded the PNA, via human rights groups and the Palestine Liberation Organization factions, sending blank passports to the coastal enclave to be filled, printed and issued, which was refused by the PNA.

However, Nour Oudeh, spokesperson for the Palestinian government in Ramallah, questioned Hamas' technical and diplomatic capacity to issue such a passport, noting that the PNA-issued passports are the only documents recognized internationally.

She added that Hamas' plan to issue passports "harms the Palestinian sovereignty and boosts the internal Palestinian division."

Hamas, which took over Gaza after routing pro-Abbas forces in 2007, says it needs 5,000 to 7,000 passports monthly.

Prisoners Of Hamas Movement in Remon Prison On Mass Hunger Strike

Source : Islamic  Invitation Turkey

Prisoners of Hamas movement held in Remon jail have staged a one-day hunger strike in protest after the isolation of prisoner Ahmad Alqedrah.

“Prisoners in section 1, 4 and 5 announced that they would refuse meals for one day sending a message to the prison authorities that if they didn’t return the isolated prisoner to his section they will do more steps”, told Fuad Alkhuffash the director of Ahrar center

The prison authorities said that Alqedrah who is from Khan Younes in Gaza strip and was arrested on 23/12/2002 and sentenced to 30 years threatened a prison officer, which was denied by the prisoners.

The human rights center called the international and human rights organizations for a quick intervention to stop the Israeli violations against prisoners.

Hamas says not to accept any deal banning arms smuggling

Source : Xinhua | English.news.cn

GAZA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip cannot accept any agreement that bans arms smuggling to the coastal enclave, a Hamas official said Wednesday.

"Preventing people under occupation from getting the mechanism of fighting the occupier is meaningless," said Salah al-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas official.

His remarks came after Israeli media reported a possible agreement between Israel and Hamas to lift the blockade on Gaza in exchange for a Hamas commitment to stop arms smuggling. The reports said that Egypt was mediating between the two sides to achieve the deal which would complement an earlier agreement that ended days of cross-border clashes between Hamas and Israel in last November.

On Tuesday, Israeli army radio reported that the aim of the agreement was to prevent any new round of fighting between Hamas and Israel in the future.

Hamas routed forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and ousted his Fatah party in street fighting in 2007. Since then, Israel imposed a tight closure on Gaza, but started a gradual easing of the siege since 2010.

The latest Israeli facilities were announced Tuesday, involving an increase in fuel and cooking gas supplies to Gaza.

Al-Bardaweel stressed that Egypt talked separately to his movement and Israel, denying the reports that Hamas, which does not recognize Israel, was holding indirect negotiations with the Jewish state.

Hamas confirms indirect, Egyptian-sponsored talks with Israel over Gaza

Source : Xinhua | English.news.cn

GAZA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Hamas, Egypt and Israel held indirect discussions to further implement the November ceasefire that ended clashes between Hamas and Israel in Gaza, a Hamas official said Saturday.

The talks involve taking more steps by Israel to ease its blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and stop attacking Palestinians in areas Israel has recently given to the Palestinians -- the extra 3 nautical miles for fishermen and what had been a buffer zone along Gaza's northern and eastern borders with Israel, according to Khalil al-Hayya, a senior official of the Islamic movement.

Al-Hayya told reporters that Hamas envoys do not meet the Israelis, but Egypt communicates between the two sides.

Hamas envoys have recently met Egyptian officials and urged them to assess Israel's conduct in Gaza, al-Hayya said, noting that Israel "violates" the ceasefire by targeting fishermen and farmers and not completely lifting restrictions on the transport of goods through the Israeli-controlled commercial crossings.

In November, more than 160 Palestinians and three Israelis were killed in a cross-border fight between Hamas and Israel. Israel later arrested dozens of fishermen and shot dozens of Palestinians who approached its borders.

Al-Hayya said his movement can respond "fiercely" to the Israeli violations, but prefers to giving time for the Egyptian mediatory efforts.

Meanwhile, al-Hayya said the Palestinian reconciliation cannot happen without an end to what he called crackdown against Hamas supporters in the West Bank.

He said Khaled Mashaal, chief of Hamas politburo, briefed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Fatah party, last week about the arrests against Hamas members in the West Bank.

The reconciliation aims at restoring political unity to the Palestinian territories, which were split when Hamas routed pro- Abbas forces and ousted his Fatah movement from Gaza in 2007. Fatah still holds sway in the West Bank.

Hamas to demolish 40 Gaza homes

Source : Al Akhbar English

Gaza's Hamas government is set to demolish 40 houses in central Gaza city, nearly one year after a court ruled the neighborhood to be public property.

Bulldozers were stationed Wednesday outside the homes of nearly 75 families in al-Rimal neighborhood. Many of whom are Palestinian refugees displaced by Israel in 1948.

Demolitions are expected to take place later in the day.

Meanwhile, scores of residents staged a demonstration against the decision outside Palestinian Legislative Council offices.

“This is a great injustice, an act of persecution and a forceful imposition of Hamas's own version of laws on refugees,” resident Hazem Abu Hmeid told Al-Akhbar.

Families will be given $1,000 each in compensation, and have been allotted pieces of land near Gaza's borders. Abu Hmeid says the government's remuneration “falls very short” of the money invested in their houses.

He says that he has invested over $50,000 in his house.

The government, however, claims that the families had agreed to the package over negotiations Tuesday night.

“We will no longer accept violations against public property, no matter how long they have been going on for … we want to assure people that we respect human rights for decent living and finding suitable living situations for the families,” read a statement from the Gaza government.

“We emphasize the extreme importance we place on not abandoning the families whose houses will be removed to the streets,” it added.

Al-Rimal neighborhood lies in a busy commercial area where property values are among the highest in the coastal strip. Many residents expect the government to open the area up to lucrative investments.

(Al-Akhbar)

Israel arrests 16 in overnight West Bank raids

Source : Al Akhbar English

Israeli soldiers arrested at least 16 Palestinians, including a high ranking Hamas official, in overnight raids across the West Bank Tuesday, local media reported.

Ma’an news agency, citing unnamed Hamas sources, said soldiers arrested Islamist Rafat Jamil Nassif after breaking into his home in the village of Tulkarm.

Four others from the village were arrested, including three university students, and the son of a local Imam.

In Nablus, Israeli forces detained four students from an-Najah University, locals said. Soldiers also detained two others from nearby villages.

Four people were arrested in Qalandiya refugee camp in Ramallah, including two ex-prisoners.

Soldiers arrested two others in Hebron.

But an Israeli army spokeswoman said just 13 people were detained overnight, including four in Nablus, five in Tulkarm, three in Bethlehem and one in Hebron.

The latest arrests follow a sweep of West Bank raids targeting Hamas- affiliated officials in the West Bank over the past week.

Last Tuesday, Israeli forces arrested 12 people including at least three Hamas-affiliates.

One day earlier, Israeli soldiers arrested 23 members of Hamas, including three lawmakers.

Hamas condemned the arrests as a “criminal act” aimed at thwarting Palestinian reconciliation talks.

(Ma’an, Al-AKhbar)

Israeli soldiers raid West Bank villages, arrest five

Source :   Al Akhbar English

Israeli forces arrested five Palestinian youths, including a 14-year-old, during overnight raids in the West Bank Sunday, local media reported.

The latests arrests come as Palestinian factions wrapped up two days of reconciliation talks in Cairo.

In the West Bank village of Burqaa, near Nablus, soldiers arrested Shadi Abu Omar, Fadi Abu Omar, and Munjed Daughlas at dawn, according to Ma’an news agency.

Israeli forces arrested another man, 24-year-old Moussa Issa Abu Sabha, during a raid on Yatta, south of Hebron.

An Israeli military spokesperson said two others were arrested in Arura, near Ramalla, and another in Beit Kahil, in the Hebron area.

Israeli forces raided the town of Burqeen, west of Jenin, and arrested 14-year-old Mohammed Ghanem. Other residents suffered from asphyxiation after soldiers fired tear gas at them.

WAFA news agency reported that soldiers also summoned two Palestinians, Sami Yousef Shariah, 23, and Mohammed Ali Al-Orouj, 22, for questioning near the illegal Jewish settlement of Ghosh Itsion, south of Bethlehem.

In Cairo, Palestinian rival factions Hamas and Fatah made little progress following two days of talks in Cairo. They remain divided over how exactly to apply a deal the two parties had agreed to more than a year earlier, an official said.

PLO Executive Committee member Wassel Abu Youssef had earlier on Saturday said that the main points of dispute were over the way elections were held for the PNC, as well as other issues relating to legislative and presidential elections in the Palestinian territories.

He also said there was disagreement over the timing of the establishment of a caretaker cabinet, which is supposed to prepare for new elections, and the announcement of a date for such a poll.

Another point of dispute was the type of voting system to be used, officials said.

The Cairo talks were convened by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah faction signed a reconciliation deal with Hamas in April 2011 aimed at ending years of rivalry, but which has never been properly implemented.

(Al-Akhbar, Ma’an, AFP)

Israeli army arrests Hamas members in West Bank, more arrests underway

Source : Xinhua

RAMALLAH/JERUSALEM, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army arrested on Monday 21 Hamas members in the West Bank, including three lawmakers, during pre-dawn raids, well-informed Palestinian sources said, while the Israeli military said more arrests are underway.

Most of the arrests were taken place in Nablus city, targeting nine senior members of the Islamic movement, said Hurriyat Center for Prisoners Rights in a statement.

Meanwhile, a Israeli military spokeswoman said that 25 Palestinians wanted for questioning by security forces were arrested, the majority of them are Hamas sympathizers.

Two lawmakers of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) were seized in their homes in Hebron city and the third was arrested in the central city of Ramallah.

The Israeli forces also stormed two Hamas-run charities in Tulkarem and Hebron and confiscated computers and documents.

The West Bank is ruled by the Palestinian National Authority ( PNA), Hamas' rival, under President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party.

Also, The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior Israeli officer in the army's Central Command as saying that other "senior terrorism activists" will be arrested in the near future due to their involvement in a recent spike in public disorder and violent incidents in the West Bank.

Palestinian security forces in the West Bank also arrested a number of Hamas operatives in recent days, The Jerusalem Post reported, noting that some had recently been released from Israeli prisons.

The Israeli raids in the West Bank take place on a daily basis. Hamas, which routed pro-Abbas forces and took over the Gaza Strip in 2007, accuses the PNA of conducting security liaison with Israel to undermine Hamas in the West Bank.

For his part, Hamas' Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs in Gaza condemned the detentions, saying the move is aimed at sabotaging ongoing efforts to achieve an internal Palestinian reconciliation.