Hamas-PA Tensions Rise Amid Infighting

On the brink of civil war? Hamas accuses the PA of collaborating with Israel, and the PA has arrested Hamas members.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas continue to exchange accusations and threats, further undermining the already unstable situation in the PA-administered territories and Hamas-controlled Gaza.

The latest accusations were made by Hamas on Saturday, when its Ministry of Interior charged that “senior leaders of the PA security apparatuses” planned to create a “state of lawlessness” in the Gaza Strip. The terror organization accused the PA of collaborating with Israel, saying that the PA was involved in “disclosing serious information on the Palestinian resistance.”

Interior Ministry spokesperson Eyyad al-Buzum stated in a press conference in Gaza that Hamas security forces arrested a number of people allegedly involved in exploding cars and houses in recent weeks.

The ministry displayed confessions ostensibly given by a number of PA security members who said that they had received orders to generate chaos in the Strip.

The interior ministry also played recordings which, they say, prove that members of the PA security forces had sent information on Hamas maneuvers to Israel during the 50-day Operation Protective Edge over the summer.

PA police. (Issam Rimawi/Flash90)

PA security services raided the PA-controlled areas last Monday and arrested dozens of Hamas supporters and operatives. In response, Hamas spokesman Hussam Badran said that the arrests served as clear-cut evidence that security cooperation with Israel was ongoing.

“Hamas lies,” Fatah spokesman Usama al-Qawasmi retorted to Hamas’s latest accusations. “Everyone knows it imposes its will by force,” the PA WAFA news agency quoted him as saying.

However, Al-Buzum emphasized that the PA leaders “incited against the Gaza Strip” and created a state of dispute with the neighboring countries, particularly Egypt.

After accusing Hamas of involvement in the smuggling of weapons through underground tunnels into the Sinai Peninsula and of actively attacking Egyptian military targets, an Egyptian court outlawed Hamas completely in March. This court decision could harm Hamas financially and hinder its diplomatic efforts.

By: Aryeh Savir
Staff Writer, United with Israel 

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