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Monday, June 29, 2009

Hamas revives its military in the West Bank

RAMALLAH — Hamas has revived its military wing in the West Bank with new funding and training activity.   

In February, hundreds of thousands of dollars was said to have flowed to the Hamas network in the West Bank, most of it in the guise of humanitarian aid.

The Palestinian Authority has determined that Hamas headquarters in Syria decided to renew the military wing in the West Bank in an effort to destabilize the regime of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Middle East Newsline reported. Officials said the decision by the Hamas political bureau, pressed by the Islamic regime in the Gaza Strip, appeared to have been taken immediately after the war with Israel in January 2009.


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"The Hamas decision was based on the assessment that its military wing could not operate only in one part of Palestine," a PA official said. "Had Israel decided to invade the Gaza Strip, there would no longer have been anything left of the Hamas military infrastructure."

The officials said the money was used to acquire weapons, including automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and advanced detonators for bombs.

Officials said Hamas was believed to have established military cells in such West Bank cities as Bethlehem, Hebron, Jenin, Kalkilya, Nablus and Tulkarm. Each cell was headed by a Hamas commander and deputy, often trained in Lebanon or Syria.

The PA has been working with Israel and the United States to identify and target Hamas's military infrastructure. On May 31, six people were killed in a PA security operation against a Hamas stronghold in the West Bank city of Kalkilya. Three of the casualties were PA officers.

"We were stunned by the ferocity of the Hamas resistance," a PA security source said. "In the past, Hamas would simply have thrown up their hands and given up. Here, they decided to fight until the end."

The security source said Hamas's military wing has penetrated PA security agencies as well as the ruling Fatah movement. The source said Hamas agents in the PA were providing information on planned operations against Hamas.

"The assessment is that Hamas does not want to try to topple the PA at this point, but is steadily working up to that stage," the security source said. "They believe that once our security forces become sufficiently trained, we will target Hamas throughout the West Bank."



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