Hamas: Fatah tortures Hamas prisoners in West Bank

Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank, is practicing the “worst kind of torture” against Hamas members, the Gaza-based group said in a press release yesterday.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zuhri called on the Palestinian factions and human rights organisations to be “objective” and not to “hide” part of the facts when they speak about this issue.

The press release came after a claim by the Fatah in the Gaza Strip that Hamas security services, which control the Strip, had summoned two of its members and interrogated them for hours.

Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Islamic Jihad held a press conference in Fatah’s office in Gaza calling for Hamas not to arrest people based on their political affiliation.

Abu-Zuhri also called on Fatah to stop arresting Hamas members in the West Bank and called for the human rights organisations and the Palestinian factions to help stop these arrests.

“Such remarks [by Fatah and the other factions] do not harm Hamas’ reputation,” Abu-Zuhri said in the release.

“It is enough for Fatah to be ashamed of its deeds when it arrests the son of Yahya Ayyash [former leader of Al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank, who was assassinated in Gaza] on the anniversary of his death,” he added. “In addition, Fatah security services arrested and summoned scores of Hamas members on a daily basis.”

In a clear violation of Palestinian law, Fatah and the PA security services attempted to remove Hamas from the PA after it overwhelmingly won the municipal and parliamentary elections in 2006.

A year later and after internal clashes, Hamas forcefully imposed its sovereignty over the Gaza Strip and, in response to this, Fatah prevented Hamas parliamentarians from entering their offices and arrested hundreds of its members.