![Palestinians protest in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on 10 June 2018 calling for the Palestinian Authority to lift its punitive measures against the Gaza Strip [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/2018_6-11-Palestinians-protest-in-the-occupied-West-Bank20180610_2_30834106_34552640.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has continued to detain Palestinians who resist the occupation in an effort to appease Israeli leaders, Al-Resalah newspaper reported yesterday.
The PA, analysts and activists said, “is turning its back” on the reconciliation agreement signed in Algeria only a few weeks ago as “it continues chasing Palestinian fighters who insist on fighting the Israeli occupation.”
With the help of Israel, the Palestinian Authority arrests Palestinian activists – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]
Al-Resalah said that the PA has detained dozens of Palestinian fighters because they are resisting the occupation, adding that a number have been on hunger strike for 23 days in protest of their continued detention.
A PA court has ruled that they should be released, the newspaper said, but the PA security services insist on keeping them in prison “to prove their loyalty” to the Israeli occupation.
The Committee for Families of Political Prisoners said it has recently documented 296 violations committed by the PA against Palestinians, including the murder of 57-year-old Firas Ya’aish on 20 September. He was shot in the head during the PA’s violent dispersal of a Palestinian demonstration against political detention.
Lawyer Muhannad Karaja, founder and head of Lawyers for Justice, said: “Political detention has witnessed an unprecedented hike in recent months. This came as part of the efforts of the PA to fasten its grip over Palestinians.”
OPINION: The PA condemns Israel’s attacks on Palestinians, then attacks them itself