GAZA STRIP, June 23 (IslamOnline) – The Palestinian Authority started a wide-range arresting campaign that included several supporters for the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas and the Al Khalas Islamic Party in the Gaza Strip.
Sources in Hamas told IslamOlnline’s correspondent that the PA has arrested many of its supporters in various areas in Gaza, adding that it is impossible to give a toll right now but that the arrests are still continuing.
Ismael Haniya, one of the Hamas leaders in Gaza, said that the movement condemns the arrests whether among the movement or among other Palestinian factions and said that the arrests are unacceptable whether under the pretext of resisting occupation or under any political pretext. “We consider these arrests dangerous for the future of our people especially during this trying time,” he said.
Ismael Al Ashqar, the deputy secretary general of the Al Khalas party, said Sunday morning that the Palestinian security forces detained the secretary general of the party Jamal Salah, the head of the party’s Shura Council Dr. Mohamad Shihab and a number of the party members, including Mahmoud Khedr, Abdel Kareem Al Batsh and Ali Fayad.
Al Ashqar said that the party severely criticizes these arrests and considers them unjustified, especially at a time when the Israeli aggression has reached its peak. He added that there were more than 15 Palestinians killed in a couple of days.
“Instead of arresting the resistance fighters, the PA should try to relief the Palestinian pain and their struggle against the occupation,’ he said.
He added that the party is political and legal and all its activities are not beyond the law. He warned of repeating what took place with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Secretary General Ahmad Saadat and said that this will have serious consequences on the Palestinian unity against the occupation.
