Siyam, responding to a letter from Abbas adviser Rafik Al Husseini,
asserted that most of the abductors of journalists were associated with an
unidentified Fatah leader in the Gaza Strip. The interior minister said
Abbas recruited several of the abductors for the PA Presidential Guards.
Palestinian security sources said Abbas aides, particularly Mohammed
Dahlan, were protecting the Dughmoush clan, based in Gaza City. Dughmoush,
they said, defected from Hamas to Fatah and obtained immunity for his
abduction and other attacks in the Gaza Strip.
Dughmoush was said to have led the abduction of BBC correspondent Alan
Johnston. Johnston was abducted in March 2007 and released earlier in July
in exchange of what the sources said was a $5 million ransom.
Meanwhile, tensions between Fatah and Hamas continued to escalate in the
West Bank. On Tuesday, Fatah and Hamas students clashed in An Najah
University in Nablus, and 30 of them were injured.
"The Islamic bloc issued leaflets detailing the arrests of some members
by the Israeli forces, and this was the reason for the interference of the
Fatah Shabiba bloc to prevent the leaflets on campus," An Najah
said in a statement. "These events resulted in the regrettable clashes
between the students."
Meanwhile in Ramallah, forces loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud
Abbas have attacked the family of a Fatah leader in what could further
strain relations between the government and insurgency movement.
The Presidential Guard was said to have assaulted relatives of jailed
Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti in Ramallah. PG forces stopped the vehicle of
Barghouti's daughter on late July 23, searched the car and examined her
cassette tapes.
"This was a provocation," a Barghouti family member said.
After the search, Palestinian sources said, PG officers demanded that
Barghouti's daughter, Ruba, drive to Abbas's compound in Ramallah for
interrogation. Ms. Barghouti, who had been heading home from Bir Zeit
University, refused and summoned her relatives.
Within minutes, PG reinforcement as well as Barghouti's relatives
arrived. PG officers aimed their weapons and attacked Barghouti family
members as well as pedestrians who sought to intervene.
Young Palestinians gathered near the Barghouti vehicle and demanded that
the PG officers leave. The officers were said to have beaten Ruba's brother,
Qassam Barghouti, with their rifle butts.
The PA daily Al Hayat Al Jadida said Rafiq Husseini, head of the
Presidential Court, has promised to investigate the confrontation. Marwan
Barghouti, founder of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, was convicted and
sentenced to life in 2002 for ordering the killing of five people, most of
them Israelis.
Fatah gunmen held a demonstration of support outside Barghouti's home.
The PA issued an apology for the incident.
Palestinian sources said tensions have escalated between Abbas and the
Young Guard of Fatah since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June
2007. Over the last few weeks, Fatah gunmen have raided Hamas offices and
prevented Islamic demonstrations in several cities of the West Bank.