PA carries out 'one of largest arrest waves of all time' in West Bank
Crackdown on Hamas operatives in the region, in which more than 300 were arrested, follows deadly terror attack near Hebron.
By Avi Issacharoff and News Agencies Tags: Israel news West Bank Palestinian Authority HamasPalestinian security forces carried out one of the largest waves of arrests in the history of the West Bank following Tuesday's shooting attack near Hebron, in which four Israelis were killed, a Palestinian source said on Wednesday.
According to the source, more than 300 people identified with Hamas have been arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces since the attack.
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Palestinian children, waving green Islamic flags and making victory signs, participate in a rally in Gaza to celebrate the West Bank shooting attack in which four Israelis were killed. |
| Photo by: AP |
Hamas' armed wing claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack, which occurred on the eve of a fresh round of U.S.-backed peace talks.
The Hamas armed wing, the Iz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack from the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad vowed to prevent a repeat of such attacks. His Western-backed administration, which is set to resume peace talks with Israel on Thursday, is opposed to violence.
Tuesday's shooting was the most lethal attack on Israelis in the West Bank in four years.
During a visit to a West Bank army base, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the military will do everything possible to quickly bring the perpetrators to justice. But he urged residents to show restraint.
Barak called on residents to show restraint. "We are in the midst of a long struggle for our right to live in security under a peace agreement with our neighbors," Barak said.
A Palestinian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity under official guidelines, confirmed a crackdown was under way, but gave few details. He said the assailants from the shooting had not been found.
Hamas lawmaker Omar Abdel-Raziq said more than 150 members had been detained, and others had been summoned to police stations for questioning.
He accused Abbas of trying to please the Israelis.
"These are political arrests," he said. "They are trying to tell the Israelis that they are capable of doing the job after the attack."
Abbas, a Western-backed moderate, has carried out frequent crackdowns on Hamas since the Iranian-backed group defeated his forces and overtook Gaza three years ago. In turn, Hamas has frequently targeted members of Abbas' Fatah movement in Gaza.
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Such massive arrests raids will be useless. As long as the occupation exists new resistance will rise up, not only directed at the occupier, but also at the local forces assisting them,
G-D calls the Arabs "wild beasts" in the Torah. I would rather listen to G-D then to the leftists and realize that we cant have peace with these wild beasts. We need to at least transfer them out of the country soo we cant be harmed by them any longer. Then we will have peace. Give G-D a chance.
I, as an Arab and Muslim, strongly condemn the murder of those 4 Israelis for no reason. Hamas is obviously trying to sabotage the negotiations and keep the region in a state of perpetual warfare and strife. The PA is doing everything it can to prevent them from succeeding. I am no supporter of the settlements, however this act was brutal and unjustifiable. The settlements issue must be addressed in negotiations as part of a just peace for all parties. We need to stop the bloodshed. There is a better way to live, but there are always people who resist change and try everything in their power to preserve the status quo. Let us hope that they fail.
Abbas cannot allow the actions of any Palestinians give Netanyahu an excuse to terminate the talks. Hamas must be neutralized in the West Bank.
You (fraudulently) encourage Abbas to "neutralize" Hamas, knowing damned well he has no such control, but you condemn Israel for doing it, knowing damned well that it has such capability. You fool no one, Mark. You and Hamas clearly share the same vision of "peace"...One state with no Jews.
Are these real arrests or similar to the arrests depicted in the movie "Casablanca" when the chief of police uttered the now classical line: " round up the usual set of suspects." ?
I wish the Palestinians all the luck in turning to modernization, leave radical Islam and promote peaceful Islam. Israel is your partner in this. Remember your enemies, as usual they appear as your closest friends: Israeli and Europe's left will try to bolster Hamas in every occasion, and deprive you of economic support. They will say you are not democratic, they will say Abbas let Palestinian suffer, they will fail to mention Hamas atrocities and accuse you of things you haven't done. For both Israel's and Palestine's sake, I hope you make it. The most decisive factor in the present round of peace talks is the will of the Palestinian people. Good luck for peace.
The arrests are BS! The serve only to place the operatives who committed these murders of innocents into 'protective custody.' Once again, the murders of Jews will go free; so much for the complicity of the Jewish establishment in this phony 'peace process.'
so the IOF can go home and the PA will protect illegal squatters from the palestinians who own the land being squatted on
Did you ever think maybe the people on the ground don't see things so black and white the way you do. The Palestinians know for peace they need to demonstrate they can keep rule of law. Only under those circumstances can negotiations in everyone's best interest progress.
The PA will never stop anyone from killing Jews, that is their avowed aim, that and the elimination of the Jewish state. Negotiations must stop and the Arabs returned to Jordan or Egypt from where they came in the 1920's.
will Erdogan apologise on behalf of Hamas, will the UN demand an enquiry, will the press talk about the deaths of 4 innocents as much as the death of a known terrorist in Dubai ( who also travelled on a false passport, but hey ho don't worry about that ). NAH, it doesn't matter because they are jews.
The truth is, the international indignation is not about human rights, otherwise the arab street and leftists would be demonstrating daily about the extreme abuses around them in the arab/muslim world. it's really about arab humiliation (they keep losing to Israel) and leftist Israel hatred and romanticism that incites the lefties. they'll find a new cause once the palestinians get self rule and practice severe human rights injustices.
4 ISRAELI ARE NOT A BIG DEAL ,,,, palastine is for palestinien go back home
PA is hiding Hamas from IDF.
I call on Hamas and all extremist Palestinians in the name of Allah to please stop, stop, stop. We are fed up with you. We can't take it anymore. Many Saudis and other Arabs and Muslims don't side with you. We want peace. Your terrorist attacks are endangering the peace we all seek. I also call on all wise Israelis to condemn the extremist Rabbi and other extremist Jews. Extremists on both sides should be thoroughly monitored and warned and if needed interrogated. This is a rare moment in history of the Middle East, and we don't want to lose it.
This coming from a Saudi, just about the most hypocrytical country in the world. before calling on other nations to do things call on your government to make changes!!
You know, if I was in the position of palestinians and a jew told me to stop defending myself, I would call him a traitor and enemy of all jews and judaism.
Only flotillas gets probed. Pregnant Jewish woman don't count to the UN.
This is just a continuation of Arafat's revolving door policy.
Let's hope it'll last!!
The killings took place in a zone which the PA had no responsibility for security. These actions are no doubt a good will gesture to Israel.
Netanyahu would'n've been elected in 1996, there would've been no second intifada, most Israelis would have supported the peace process and a an agreement would have been singed a long time ago. Unfortunately, the Palestinians are late but it's never too late.
So they arrested all these people, but yesterday they were allowed to wonder the streets free, so they don't really mind if these people support Hamas. Lets arrest everyone and send them to the moon!
Ofcourse it was a very bad attack, but what about the palestinians who are killed already, houses burned etc by the settlers?
go back to europe
What a poor showing by the PA again, 4 people have to die before they take action. We all know they will be on the streets tomorrow, so useless negotiating with these people as they do not control Hamas let alone their own "freedom fighting" (read terrorist) brigade. By the way where is the Arab league in condemning this latest attack? Utterly useless!!!
which is considerably better than how Israeli police handle terrorism by settlers
I agree completely with you
...and that is how by arresting a couple of terrorists just to let them out via the back door so they can strap dynamite to their chests so they can have some virgins. come on get real, the only real terror is that of Islam waging a crusade against the world. Israel today, Europe tomorrow that is the way it works.
I doubt PA would give them coffee and cake, they'd probably be tortured and then released dead or alive when no longer useful. And trust me, in the prisons there are plenty of agents from different countries including israel watching the interrogations...
Maybe Fatah did it and it is white washing
Why hamas assumed responsibility, then?
Hamas, you have done your 'cause' far more harm than your thick heads know. Your days are numbered. You will probably name a street after these murderers. I will go to the toilet later and i will name something after you. Then i will flush it away, as will happen to you.
This is almost certainly just more of the PA revolving door policy which has been going on since the oslo. The heat is on the PA so they make arrests. As soon as the media is looking the other way they will be out again like nothing ever happened. Abbas must let the IDF take action because nothing less will satisfy the Israeli public and Bibi needs the public behind him. Time for Abbas to make a few sacrifices if he doesn't want Bibi to be pressured into going home to and start talking to the cabinet and military on how to protect the public rather than discussing Obamas legacy.
Me as palestinian condem this attack, its just giving more hatred and trying to detter the upcoming negociations. why cant we all live together and share the cake, we all have some roots and the time is coming to move forward for our future generations. fuck hamas, viva palestine, and hope to be friends with israelies, having peace and trying to get good things from israel is benefical for the development of the palestinians, lets forget issues of our predecessors and let make a fresh new page for the future, hope that the negotiations will be just fare for everybody that our childrens can all play in the kindergarden without cast lead or blowing ourself in the school :)
Thank you. Me and most other Israelis I know wish the same.
Amen!
This is a great talkback but the problem is that brave people like this must stop being anonymous and come out and march in the streets of Ramallah and Jerusalem to protest this violence.
Gd bless you
both sides have loonies
This is the kind of partner for peace we need.
PA can be stronger than Hamas. If so PA will be the only peace partner.
If the majority of Palestinians think this way, then perhaps there is a chance for peace. Unfortunately, I doubt that to be the case as exemplified by candies being handed out as a sign of celebrating this multiple heinous murder (see pictures on CNN or AP news)
But the biggest loonies are the islamofascists, wanna have a good laugh about this watch a movie called four lions.