A file photo for an Israeli bulldozer demolishing parts of al-Muqattah

By Yasser al-Banna, IOL Palestine Correspondent

GAZA CITY, Aug 2 (IslamOnline.net) – Palestinian security personnel arrested Saturday, August 2, 20 activists of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades inside the headquarters compound of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat (al-Muqattah) in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Brigades sources confirmed, while a Palestinian official said that they were not arrested but only "transferred  to safe haven."  

The sources, however, said that the security personnel launched a massive campaign in the West Bank cities of Ramallah, al-Biera and the al-Ameri refugee camp and rounded up around 20 activists wanted by Israel to be transferred to a custody either in Jericho or Gaza City.

"The Palestinian Authority intends to transfer members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (the armed offshoot of  Fatah movement) at al-Muqattah either to a prison Jericho or Gaza City," Zakria al-Zubeidi, the leader of the Brigades in northern West Bank, told IslamOnline.net.

"We talked to Palestinian Minister of State Mohammad Dahlan at 2:00 a.m. (11:00 GMT), who dismissed the news as groundless, asserting that there were no any detainees in Gaza City," he added.

Asked about transferring them to Jericho, Dahlan further stressed that no agreement has been hammered out with the Israelis to this respect, but saying that Israel had suggested transferring wanted Palestinians to Jericho, Zubeidi

He urged the PA not to strike any deals with Israel, warning of "an Israeli unfaithfulness."

Zubeidi further called on the members of the Brigades present in al-Muqattah to "step out and come back to the fold of the Palestinian society."

"The real save haven for a fighter is among his family and people who fear for him, and not with President Arafat," he added.

Qaddora Faris, member of Fatah's supreme committee and the Palestinian legislative council, confirmed the arrests, adding that he was still having sketchy details.

'Transferred Not Arrested'

For his part, Palestinian Minister of Local Governance and the minister in charge of the dialogue between the PA and the Brigades Abdul Fattah Hamayl dismissed the arrest news as "groundless and nonsense."

"Some brothers from the Brigades in al-Muqattah are wanted by the occupation troops, and every now and then the Israelis are exercising enormous pressures on Arafat…We are pretty sure that any solution to their problems will protect their lives," Hamayl told IOL.

"(Therefore) They were transferred to another place to protect them from Israeli death threats," he added.