Hamas orders assassination of Palestinian officers who raided safe house
Monday, June 8, 2009 E-Mail this story Free Headline Alerts
RAMALLAH Ñ Hamas has publicly called for the assassination of Palestinian Authority officers who led the assault on safe houses operated by Hamas in the West Bank.
Hamas has already published the names and photographs of at least six PA officers said to have commanded assaults on the safe houses in Kalkilya in late May and early June, and has instructed its agents and supporters to kill them.
"They are collaborators of Israel," Hamas said.
Several of the officers were identified as members of the PA Preventive Security Apparatus. The most senior of the PSA officers was identified as Hussam Sheik Hamed, said to have been the commander of two assaults on Hamas safe houses in Kalkilya in which four Islamic agents were killed.
This marked the first time that Hamas publicly called for the killing of PA security officers. Over the last year, more than 700 Hamas agents have been arrested and detained in the West Bank.
Other PA officers on Hamas's death list were identified as Abdul Rai, Aboud Al Khawaja, Abdul Al Menem Afanah, Ayman Al Haj and Ghassan Jawabreh. No information was provided on the roles of most of these men.
"As of today, all of the security forces who participated in the Kalkilya operation are now wanted by the [Hamas military wing] Kassam Brigades," Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida said.
Hamas said PA security forces continued to sweep through West Bank towns in a crackdown on the Islamic military wing. On June 4, three Hamas military operatives were sentenced to three years on charges of stockpiling weapons in the areas of Nablus and Ramallah.