The leading agency in the anti-Hamas campaign was identified as
Institutional Security (IS), or in Arabic Amn Al Mu'assasat. The sources said the
unit has been assigned to screen all PA employees as well as those in
non-governmental organizations in the West Bank.
IS was said to have two parallel offices within the PA intelligence
community. The sources said similar units were established within the
General Intelligence Services and Preventive Security Apparatus. These two
offices
have been relaying data to the Interior Ministry.
The new units have been conducting security clearance required for all
civil servants and NGO staffers. These Palestinians have been forced to
apply for so-called certificates of good conduct, also demanded for
journalists and teachers in
the West Bank.
"IS is looking for any link to Hamas and Islamic Jihad or even to
clerics regarded as independent," the source said. "The only way one can
disprove suspicions is by agreeing to work with PA intelligence."
So far, the biggest target of the PA units has been teachers. The
Independent Commission for Human Rights has registered more than 400
complaints from teachers who said they had either been fired or refused jobs
because of suspected Islamic ties.
The sources said more than 1,000 teachers or applicants have been
affected by the anti-Hamas crackdown. But many decided not to complain in
hope of future employment.
Hundreds of PA-financed clerics have also been purged, the sources said.
They said the new anti-Hamas units have been working with the Islamic
Affairs Ministry to target more than 800 mosques in the West Bank for links
to Hamas or Jihad. So far, more than 200 imams, or preachers, were said to
have been fired.
Islamic journalists have also been denied accreditation by the PA. The
sources said more than 100 Hamas sympathizers have been denied
accreditation,
required to work for the media in the West Bank. Those working for the
foreign media do not need security clearance.
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