In September 2008, the PA arrested a senior security commander on
charges that he was an agent of Hamas. The sources said the PA colonel
worked in intelligence and was privy to operations relating to the crackdown
on Hamas.
The Israeli news agency Ynet, quoting a Palestinian security source,
said Israel and the United States relayed information on the colonel's
alleged links to Hamas. Ynet said the information led to a PA investigation
and arrest.
"The man is very well known and well-connected in the PA," the security
source said.
In 2008, the PA, under urging from Israel and the United States, sought
to purge Hamas officers from PA security agencies. The sources said PA
military intelligence investigated hundreds of officers with family links to
Hamas and scores were dismissed.
The sources said Hamas was seeking to duplicate its success in
undermining the PA and seizing power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007. The PA
has concluded that between 35 and 50 percent of security officers in the
Gaza Strip had been Hamas agents or sympathizers on the eve of the Islamic
offensive against the PA.
Hamas has used its connections within PA security organizations to build
a military infrastructure in the West Bank, the sources said. They said
Hamas spent millions of dollars in recruiting PA officers to notify the
Islamic opposition of counter-insurgency operations.
The PA has concluded that a Hamas cell in Ramallah raised millions of
dollars for the military wing in the West Bank. The PA was said to have
dismantled the Ramallah cell.
