Hamas slams Fayyad for vowing to protect settlers

[ 01/09/2010 - 11:56 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement strongly denounced Salam Fayyad for vowing to protect the Israeli settlers following Al-Khalil operation, stressing that anyone trying to harm the Palestinian resistance would be deemed as a traitor.

"Fayyad's remarks vindicated the security integration between the occupation and Fatah's authority whose security apparatuses are guards for the occupation," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri stated on Tuesday.

Fayyad yesterday criticized on behalf of Fatah's authority in Ramallah the Palestinian resistance for carrying out Al-Khalil operation that led to the death of four Israeli settlers and pledged to take further action to protect Israelis everywhere.

Fayyad also appealed to the Israeli government to extend the jurisdiction of his militias in all Israeli-controlled areas in the West Bank in order to hunt down the Palestinian resistance fighters, especially those who killed the four settlers.

De facto president Mahmoud Abbas also denounced the operation, saying it was aimed at disrupting the political process on the eve of his direct talks with Israelis.

Abbas claimed in a statement issued by his office that this operation cannot be considered an act of resistance after Hamas stopped its resistance activities in the Gaza Strip.

For his part, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement to the Palestinian information center (PIC) that Al-Khalil operation was natural retaliation to the ongoing crimes committed by Israelis in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and occupied Jerusalem.

Spokesman Barhoum added that this operation happened as a result of the huge pressure and extreme anger among the Palestinians that were caused by the barbaric practices and criminals acts of Israeli settlers.

He also held the Israeli government fully responsible for the consequences of its settlers' racist and savage acts against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

In a related incident, the Palestinian Authority's security militias and Israeli troops kidnapped dozens of Palestinian citizens thought to be affiliated with Hamas in different West Bank areas in the wake of Al-Khalil operation.

Hamas sources in the West Bank told the PIC that immediately after the operation on Tuesday evening, the militias along with Israeli troops carried out raids on all West Bank cities and villages and kidnapped more than 150 citizens, according to the latest reports.

The sources added that the PA-Israeli forces raided homes and mosques, smashed furniture, physically assaulted women and children, and kidnapped dozens of elderly and young men.

For its part, the Quds Press news agency reported that the Israeli military command coordinated with top officials and officers in the Palestinian Authority in order to help in searching for the Palestinian resistance fighters who carried out this operation.

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