In a statement on Oct. 6, Hamas said the PA was cooperating with Israel
in the crackdown on the Islamic opposition. Abu Obeida said Hamas was ready
to retaliate against the PA.
"We will act against them if PA security forces continue to detain and
sue resistance activists in the West Bank," Abu Obeida said. "Nobody can
blame us if we go after leaders of the Fatah-run authority everywhere, and
treat them equally."
Several members of Palestinian militias attended the Hamas news
conference, including the Popular Resistance Committees and the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad,
which has been the target of a Hamas crackdown, did not send a
representative.
Hamas has reported the PA arrest of nearly 800 Islamic operatives. One
of them was identified as Abdul Rahman Zaidan, deemed a leading Hamas
official in the West Bank, arrested in late September.
"The PA has gone to the extreme, forcing us to end our silence," Abu
Obeida said. "Prisoners are being brutally tortured in jail."
On Oct. 3, the PA sentenced three Palestinians convicted of
participating in a Hamas battle with security forces in May 2009. Alaa
Hisham Diab, sentenced to 20 years, was one of five Hamas gunmen who held
off an estimated 3,000 PA troops in the West Bank city of Kalkilya. Three PA
officers and two Hamas fighters were killed in the battle.
"The Izzedin Kassam Brigades have the right to respond to these sorts of
decisions," Abu Obeida said.
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