HEBRON/GAZA CITY: Palestinian security forces have shut down four Hamas-linked charities and two printing presses in and around the southern West Bank town of Hebron, a security official said yesterday.
Palestinian Interior Minister Abdulrazzaq Al-Yahya ordered the closure and security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas shut down all six on Friday after raiding the buildings and confiscating a number of items from them, the official said. In recent weeks Abbas’ Fatah forces have taken increasingly strict measures against Hamas, which seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after routing his forces from the impoverished territory in a week of street battles.
The sources said that security forces closed the Islamic complex in Adhahahreya town south of Hebron, the cultural center in the village of Tafouh, the charitable society of Beit Ula to the west of Hebron city in addition to Al-Huda and Lujein print houses.
Yahya ordered the closure of the facilities after he reportedly received information that the organizations and print houses had materials that might incite violence or other action against the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah.
For its part, Hamas movement condemned the decision saying it “aims at the liquidation of the movement in the West Bank.” Fawzi Barhoum, the Gaza-based spokesman for Hamas, said that Abbas’ moves “come to prepare atmospheres for US-Zionist projects (in the area).”
Meanwhile, Hamas accused the US administration of making troubles among the Palestinians by supporting one party against the other. Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman, said in a press statement “the US administration’s role is to make unrest on the Palestinian scene and to support a side against the other side.”
Abu Zuhri’s statement came after Gen. Keith Dayton, the US security envoy to the region, revealed in an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz on Friday that Israel accepted to allow 200 bulletproof vests and 142 vehicles for Abbas’ security forces.
The Hamas spokesman added “Dayton’s remarks prove the role of the PA’s security forces in West Bank cracking down against the Palestinian resistance to serve the Zionist occupation and the US administration.”
