Shihab calls for stopping political arrests, security cooperation in W. Bank

[ 04/05/2011 - 09:25 AM ]

CAIRO, (PIC)-- Senior Islamic Jihad official Dawoud Shihab hailed the reconciliation agreement that was signed by the Palestinian resistance factions in Cairo on Tuesday as a positive step and demanded an immediate cessation of the security cooperation with the Israeli occupation in the West Bank.

In a press statement to the Palestinian information center (PIC), Shihab said the signing of the reconciliation agreement in Cairo was a first step and a new start that must protect the Palestinian people's interests, rights and national constants.

He stressed the need for sincerely translating this agreement into reality and closing the file of political arrests in the West Bank.

"There are many obstacles in the way of the reconciliation agreement that we should overcome and eliminate, especially the political arrests and the security cooperation with the occupation," the Islamic Jihad official underlined.

"Stopping the security coordination and releasing the detainees are steps that we should start with in order to build confidence, and I like to say clearly, 'we cannot close our eyes to the arrests happening to our brothers and sons at the hands of the security apparatuses and everyone will be in embarrassing situation if this continues,'" the official added.

In this regard, secretary-general of the Palestinian resistance committees Kamal Al-Neirab called for necessarily protecting the resistance and ending political arrests.

Neirab made his remarks on Tuesday during the meeting that was attended in Cairo by senior officials of the Palestinian factions to sign the reconciliation agreement.

The head of the resistance committees also called for forming a body of Palestinian factions assigned to protect the Palestinian resistance according to a unified vision in order to confront the Zionist schemes.

For its part, the family committee of political detainees in West Bank jails demanded de facto president Mahmoud Abbas to end the political arrests and summonses in order to create an atmosphere for the success of the national reconciliation.

In a statement, the committee said the Fatah-affiliated security apparatuses' persistence in carrying out political arrest campaigns in the West Bank raises questions over the feasibility of the reconciliation and reflects attempts to frustrate the agreement in this regard.

It called for immediately releasing all political detainees from West Bank jails in order to prove good faith and thus prevent the Israeli occupation from hindering the reconciliation agreement.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian