The Palestinian security sources said that the PA forces
arrested 46-year-old Ayoub Al-Qawasmi from the city of Hebron, in southern West
Bank. The sources declined to disclose additional information.
Other Palestinian sources said that Al-Qawasmi was the PA’s
most wanted Hamas operative since 1998. The sources said that the PA failed to
arrest him in previous raids.
The Palestinian sources said that the Israeli security
forces also were searching for Al-Qawasmi. Israel holds Al-Qawasmi responsible
for several military operations against Israeli targets that led to the death
and injury of several Israelis.
Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum called the arrest
“the persecution of warriors.”
Barhoum added that the arrest of Al-Qawasmi “puts the PA on
the side of Israeli occupation.” He warned the PA against “handing Al-Qawasmi
over to the Israeli occupiers.”
Hamas says that the arrests campaigns the PA’s security
forces launch against its member and supporters in the West Bank hinders the
possibility of achieving a national unity agreement with rival Fatah movement.
The internal rift and split between the rival Fatah and
Hamas movements began when the latter seized control of the Gaza Strip by force
in June 2007. Hamas and Fatah have so far failed to reconcile and end their
political split.
Since then, Hamas started to crack down on Fatah movement in
Gaza, while Abbas security forces began to crack down on Hamas movement in the
West Bank.
