Detention campaign "to counter Hamas infrastructure" in the West Bank

Sources in the Israeli occupation and internal security forces have said that the latest campaign of detentions and arrests against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank is an attempt to counter efforts by Hamas to rebuild its infrastructure there. They told Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth that Hamas has been attempting to rebuild itself across the Fatah-dominated West Bank as a means of utilising the advantages that the Islamic Resistance Movement alleges to have gained over Israel during last November’s “Operation Pillar of Defence”.

According to the Deputy Speaker for the Palestinian Legislative Council, Hassan Khoreesheh, the detention campaign is part of Israel’s effort to sabotage Palestinian reconciliation. “A positive internal reconciliation will surely lead to the reconvening of the PLC,” he said. “This is a challenge to the Israelis and their opposition to the outcomes of the 2006 democratic election results.”

Independent PLC candidate Khoreesheh called for the Palestinian factions to hold a PLC session to challenge Israel’s stand on its attempts to undermine the work of the freely-elected Palestinian parliament.