Ramallah, November 08: The Hamas movement on Saturday said that security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas arrested 9 of its members and supporters in West Bank.
Hamas said in a press statement that the detainees included university students, teachers, head of an Islamic charitable association and Hamas’ prisoners recently released from Palestinian Authority jails.
The movement added that the detentions were made in the governorates of Hebron, Toubas, Salfeet and Qalqilyah which are controlled by Abbas’ Fatah movement; Hamas’s bitter rival.
Fatah and Hamas crackdown against their political opponents in the territories they control; Hamas men in West Bank and Fatah people in Gaza Strip.
The two movements used to exchange the crackdowns since June 2007 when Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and took control of the Gaza Strip.
Last month, Egypt presented a drafted reconciliation pact to the Palestinian factions, including rival Hamas and Fatah movements. After a few days, Fatah announced that it accepted the deal. However, Hamas leaders said the pact had to be amended before the factions signed it and said it could not sit down with Abbas while his forces were arresting Hamas people in the West Bank.
——Agencies