In a press statement, Hamas said that the detainees were from the West Bank governorates of Tulkarm, Ramallah, Salfit and Nablus.
The movement added that among the 13 was journalist Abdulghani Samaraeh from the village of Azmout who had been detained after he was summoned to an interview. The head of Jima’een municipal council, Izzat Zaitawi was, said Hamas, also arrested after he criticized the government of Prime Minister Salam Fayad.
The development came two day after Hamas released 20 prisoners affiliated with rival Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh announced on Wednesday that he ordered the release of the prisoners during a goodbye ceremony for a group of Arab MPs who visited Gaza Strip. Haniyeh said the release of Fatah’s prisoners was aimed at supporting stalled Egyptian efforts to broker reconciliation between the two movements.
Meanwhile, well-informed Palestinian sources said Saturday that President Mahmoud Abbas would not meet Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Meshaal in his planned visit to Syria before the end of February. The sources told the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam that “talks and meetings with Hamas would be possible when it signs the Egyptian proposal.”
According to the sources, Abbas will meet Syrian President Bashar Assad on Feb. 27 to discuss regional issues and relations between the two countries.
Hamas and Fatah have been cracking down on each others supporters since the Islamic movement routed pro-Abbas forces and seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. In October, Egypt presented a reconciliation proposal to the Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah. After a few days, Fatah announced that it accepted the deal.
The 25-page proposal called for all parties to sign up to it by Oct. 25 followed by immediate implementation by deploying a 3,000-man security force in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, and the formation of a joint factional body to coordinate between Hamas government in Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
The proposal, which was formed in coordination with all factions, also called for the holding of general elections for presidential, legislative and Palestinian National Council (PNC) (the Palestinian parliament in exile) in the Palestinian territories and abroad on June 2010.
Hamas raised reservations on the Egyptian offer to restore political unity to Gaza and West Bank.
Hamas’ reservations include the formation of a special committee to oversee parliamentary and presidential elections that were due in January 2010 and the reform of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Hamas wants these two issues be handled through a committee representing all the factions and says the Egyptian paper authorized Abbas to form these committees without national understanding.
Egypt, which hosted five rounds of Palestinian national dialogue, rejected Hamas’ demands and said that signing of the pact should come first and observations, reservations and notes would be added after the signing in a special appendix.
