Hamas caught prepping for West Bank takeover
Pastor Dale Morgan
Hamas caught prepping for West Bank takeover*
Israel arrests terrorists as Annapolis summit prepares to give territory
to Abbas
Posted: November 28, 2007
News From Israel
JERUSALEM – Hours before the start of the U.S.-backed Annapolis summit
aimed at handing the West Bank to Palestinian Authority President
Mahmoud Abbas' organization, Israel cracked down on a cell of leading
Palestinians suspected of setting up a Hamas military arm for the terror
group to take over the strategic territory..
Hamas leaders in recent weeks vowed their organization would seize the
West Bank if Israel hands the territory to Abbas, just as Hamas seized
the Gaza Strip last June, overtaking all U.S.-backed Fatah security
compounds in less than one week.
The West Bank borders Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Tel Aviv
and Israel's international airport.
According to Israeli and Palestinian security officials, Monday night
the Israel Defense Forces arrested seven members of Abbas' Fatah
organization suspected of working on behalf of Hamas to establish a
special forces unit for the terror group in the West Bank.
One of the arrested Fatah officials is the assistant to Maged Abu
Shamaleh, secretary-general of Fatah in Gaza and a member of the PA
parliament, according to security sources said ht Shamaleh, along with
his assistant and the other six arrested militants, moved to the West
Bank in June following Hamas' takeover of Gaza.
The IDF would not officially confirm the arrests. An IDF spokeswoman had
no comment on the report.
Israeli security officials said they were concerned Abbas' Fatah
organization in the West Bank is "heavily infiltrated" by Hamas. The
issue of Hamas infiltration of Fatah was thought to have been t thathe
Achilles heel that led to the terror group's takeover last summer of the
entire Gaza Strip.
Hamas' infiltration of Fatah in Gaza was so extensive, according to top
Palestinian intelligence sources, it included the chiefs of several
prominent Fatah security forces, including Yussef Issa, director of the
Preventative Security Services, the main Fatah police force. Issa
regularly coordinated security with the U.S. and Israel.
Israeli security officials said they were also concerned Abbas is not
strong enough in the West Bank to impose law and order without the help
of the IDF. According to the officials, Fatah's intelligence apparatus
routinely hands the IDF lists of Hamas militants that threaten Fatah
rule, requesting that Israel make arrests.
Earlier this month Israeli and Palestinian security officials said that
they have specific information Hamas is quietly setting the stages for
an imminent West Bank takeover attempt. The officials said that among
other things, Hamas has been acquiring weaponry in the West Bank and has
set up a sophisticated system of communication between cells for a
seizure attempt.
In what is considered the most threatening Hamas move, according to the
officials, the terror group is thought to have heavily infiltrated all
major Fatah forces in the West Bank and has been attempting to buy off
Fatah militia members, many times successfully.
At a Gaza rally earlier this month, Hamas' leader in Gaza, Mahmoud
al-Zahar, vowed his group would overtake the West Bank.
"Israel thinks Fatah in the West Bank is there to serve it, but we will
take over the West Bank the way we took over Gaza," stated al-Zahar.