Fatah-Hamas Rift Grows as PA Makes Arrests

by Daniel Siryoti

Palestinian Authority and Fatah accuse Hamas of looting aid sent to Gazan citizens and for carrying out crimes against Fatah members in Gaza during Operation Protective Edge, including shooting the legs of dozens and imposing house arrest.

 

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas | Photo credit: AP

Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested dozens of Hamas operatives in Ramallah, Hebron and Tulkarem‎, according to Palestinian media outlets aligned with Hamas.

The Hamas-affiliated outlets also reported a violent dispersal of a Hamas and Islamic Jihad rally in the West Bank, which the two groups held to celebrate what they called their achievements fighting Israel during Operation Protective Edge.

The Palestinian Authority and Fatah claimed that Hamas looted aid sent to Gazan citizens and handed it out to its own people and supporters. Fatah also accused Hamas of carrying out crimes against its members during the fighting with Israel, shooting at the legs of dozens of Fatah members and putting hundreds under house arrest.

The tension between Hamas and Fatah was present before Operation Protective Edge, when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas learned that Hamas operatives in the West Bank had kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teens. After being showed unequivocal proof that Hamas members were behind the terrorist attack, and even received funding from the group, Abbas accused Hamas of "trying to throw sand in my eyes and ruin Palestinian society."

During Operation Protective Edge, the Shin Bet discovered a Hamas plot involving members in the West Bank and abroad to organize a third intifada and oust Abbas from office. The goal of the plot was to enable Hamas to carry out a violent takeover of the West Bank, as it did in the Gaza Strip. Tension reached a boiling point when, during a press conference on Thursday, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal claimed that "Palestinian security forces are repressing the [Hamas] activists' uprising."

Abbas in turn accused the Hamas leadership for its poor handling of the fighting in Gaza, which cost the lives of 2,000 Palestinians and widespread destruction.

Daniel Siryoti

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=19797

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