Hamas: PA’s security coordination with Israel greatest threat to unity

Security coordination between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel will harm the Palestinian national interests and negatively affect the chances of promoting a national reconciliation, Hamas said yesterday.

In an official statement, the movement’s spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, stressed that “Hamas is surprised by the PA in the West Bank’s resumption of security coordination and cooperation with the Zionist enemy, which is the equivalent of the greatest danger to the Palestinian people, its unity and its legitimate rights including the right to resist the occupation.”

“The PA’s security coordination distorts the reputation of the Palestinian people, its struggles and history,” he added.

Barhoum called on the Palestinian people to pressure the PA to stop what he described as actions “that harm the national interest”.

The PA, he stressed, must work on ensuring reconciliation talks succeed and promoting the Palestinian national project.

Read: ‘Hamas no longer responsible for Gaza residents’

Hamas’ remarks came a day after PA Police Chief Hazem Atallah announced that all the PA security forces had fully restored security cooperation with Tel Aviv two weeks ago. “This is for our people, the safety of our people and for the rights of our people,” he said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas halted security coordination with Israel on 21 July, demanding it remove metal detectors it had installed outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. According to a poll conducted in September by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, some 73 per cent of Palestinians supported Abbas’ decision.

Amid mass protests across the world and a Palestinian refusal to pass through the detectors, Israel dismantled the barriers two weeks later and said it would install less obtrusive security measures. Earlier this week, Israeli police began placing cameras at gates of Al-Aqsa Mosque to monitor Palestinians as they entered and exited the holy site, Safa News Agency reported.