Monday, August 6, 2007

Israeli occupation army, Abbas’s forces hound, round up Hamas activists in WB


From Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank

"Israeli occupation forces and masked militiamen belonging to the American-backed Palestinian Authority regime in Rmallah have been raiding Palestinian population centers, arresting dozens of Hamas supporters and activists, local sources and relatives of the detainees said. The campaign coincides with a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, due to take place in the Palestinian town of Jericho Monday afternoon.....

In the Nablus region, the Israeli occupation army Sunday night arrested “three wanted persons,” an allusion to Palestinians suspected of resisting the Israeli occupation.

At the small town of Shoyoukh near Hebron , masked PA security personnel reportedly raided several homes and arrested 18 suspected Hamas activists. Samih al Seifi, “commander of the Hebron region”!!! told a local news agency that the detainees were suspected of being members of the executive force. Seifi said “the arrest was carried out in accordance with the law.” However, relatives of the detainees vehemently denied that people arrested had any connection with the executive force. “These people are ordinary Muslims. They have nothing to do with the executive force,” said Muhammed Halayka, whose cousin was among the detainees. “I think this is part of an overall onslaught against the Islamic movement; it is meant to impress the Israelis and the Americans and obtain a certificate of good conduct from them.”

Another resident of the town, Yousuf al Mashni, accused the Abbas regime of colluding with Israel against “the Palestinian people.” “There is no difference between the two, I mean Israel the PA. They both carry out the same task, that is repressing the Palestinian people.”

Hamas on Monday issued a strongly-worded statement castigating the “gangsterly and treacherous onslaught” against Hamas supporters at the town of Shoyoukh . The statement said that as many as a hundred vehicles and 900 security personnel from all over the West Bank raided the Palestinian towns and arrested 18 activists, some of them have been released from Israeli custody. The statement said the attackers fired heavily into the ether, terrorizing civilians.....

Hamas said the raid on al Shoyoukh took place in full coordination with the Israeli occupation army......

Meanwhile, gangs of Jewish settlers went on the rampage in downtown Hebron Monday, beating and terrorizing Palestinians and setting Palestinian property on fire. Eyewitnesses said heavily-armed settlers set a local mosque on fire in full view of Israeli occupation soldiers who didn’t try to stop the settlers.

Earlier, a Jewish settler’s car ran over a young Palestinian in downtown Hebron . The settler reportedly told the police he tried to kill the Palestinian in a protest against government orders to vacate two Palestinian stalls at the wholesale vegetable market.

On Sunday, dozens of Jewish gangsters rioted outside the settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron , attacking Palestinians and vandalizing their property. The armed settlers reportedly threw Molotov cocktails and stones on Palestinian homes. The Israeli occupation army normally treats settlers with exceptional leniency due to pro-settlers influence in the government and army."

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