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.

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Palestinian Factions Sign Reconciliation Deal

Moussa Abu Marzouk (L), Azzam al-Ahmed (R)

Major Palestinian factions signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo on Tuesday which is intended to repair ties between Hamas and Fatah and end a bitter divide following a recent agreement to form a unity government.

The signing ceremony was held as representatives of 13 Palestinian factions were present. Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas attended the meeting.

"We signed the deal despite several reservations. But we insisted on working for the higher national interest," said Walid al-Awad, a politburo member of the Palestine People's Party. "We have discussed all the reservations. Everyone has agreed to take these points into consideration," he told Egyptian state television.

"Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank will be celebrating this agreement... We must now work to implement what was agreed in the deal," he noted.

The deal was officially signed by Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy to Hamas' Political Bureau Chief Khaled Meshaal, and senior Fatah member Azzam al-Ahmed, AFP reported.

The surprise deal, announced last week, comes after 18 months of failed talks and envisions the formation of an interim government of independent figures that will prepare the way for presidential and legislative elections within a year.

It was also signed by a variety of Palestinian factions, including Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian People's Party.

Abbas and Meshaal are scheduled to meet several times between Tuesday and Thursday, and will also hold talks with Egyptian officials about ways to implement the agreement.

The deal largely maintains the status quo, leaving Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip and the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority ruling the West Bank.

The agreement will be based on a 2009 document mediated by Egypt, which Fatah officials have already signed. Sources say the document has not been modified. A second document, said to have been finalized in Damascus in the winter when the last unity talks took place, will act as a guideline for the implementation of the first document.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has called on the United Nations to force some clauses into the Palestinian deal, including one that obliges Hamas to recognize Israel. Hamas has blasted the idea emphasizing that the Tel Aviv regime is attempting to 'blackmail' the movement by raising such ideas.

Also in Sunday, Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said he had suspended transfer of USD 89 million in custom fees and tax money entitled to the PA, arguing that the funds would find their way to Hamas.

• Palestinian factions sign unity deal in Cairo

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Islamic Jihad: Fatah security keeps arresting our cadres in Tulkarem - Haneyya calls for end to West Bank political arrests as unity deal culminates

[ 02/05/2011 - 03:05 PM ]

TULKAREM, (PIC)-- The Islamic Jihad Movement said the Fatah-affiliated security apparatuses still arrest its cadres in Tulkarem city, north of the West Bank.

In a press release on Sunday, Islamic Jihad added that this persistence in arresting its cadres raises questions about the future of national relations.

"The political detention and the security coordination [with the Israeli occupation] always aroused considerable controversy at the domestic level and were a major cause of the failed reconciliation efforts previously, the Movement stated.

According to an official from the Movement, the Fatah-affiliated intelligence apparatus has been holding a number of Islamic Jihad members from Ateel village in Tulkarem for the third consecutive time without allowing their families and lawyers to see them.

All detainees held by the Fatah intelligence spent some time in Israeli jails.

The official called for refraining from this policy which is detrimental to the Palestinian people's interests and their internal relations.

He also demanded the Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo to issue a code of ethics prohibiting the political arrest and the security cooperation with the Israeli occupation and protecting the national constants and rights.

Haneyya calls for end to West Bank political arrests as unity deal culminates

[ 02/05/2011 - 03:10 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haneyya has called for a halt on West Bank political arrests as the national rift is about to end in national reconciliation.

Haneyya reiterated while meeting with several newspaper editors and TV stations in the Gaza Strip on Monday that the government in Gaza is willing to pave the way for reconciliation and urged all factions to sign the deal.

The premier also called on the PLO to retract its recognition of Israel and aid the resistance movement.

The statements came as Palestinian Authority security agencies continue an arrest campaign targeting Hamas's men in the West Bank.

Chief security officials in the West Bank have openly rejected the reconciliation deal and vowed to continue arresting Hamas's men.

Several men were summoned Monday for questioning in Nablus in the north. Two were arrested in Nablus and Bethlehem including a university lecturer.
Both of the men were previously detained by Israeli security services.

Separately, in Al-Khalil, PA security militias released journalist Ahmed Mohammed Halaika from Shuyoukh hours after was arrested during an interrogation.

• PA to hold municipal elections despite reconciliation deal

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Israeli court imposes house arrest on two Jerusalemite children

Israeli court imposes house arrest on two Jerusalemite children

[ 23/04/2011 - 07:34 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli magistrate court in occupied Jerusalem imposed house arrest on two Palestinian minors at the pretext of attacking Jewish settlers' houses.

The court sentenced Ibrahim Siyam, 15, and Yazan Siyam, 16, to one week house arrest in their homes in Silwan town south of the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

It also ordered their families to escort them to and from school for five days after the conclusion of the house arrest.

Local sources said that the children were detained and questioned over the past two days before they appeared in the court hearing on Friday.

Israeli interrogators question Jihad prisoners
Palestinian prisoners suffer amid medical neglect
Palestinian man arrested in Al-Khalil Saturday morning

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IOA claims arrest of 4 lawyers passing information to Islamic Jihad prisoners

[ 20/04/2011 - 02:03 PM ]

NAZARETH, (PIC)-- The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) said it arrested four Palestinian lawyers from the 1948 occupied lands on allegation of transferring information between prisoners in Israeli jails and leaders from the Islamic Jihad Movement in the Gaza Strip.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Wednesday said an indictment was filed with the central court in occupied Jerusalem against lawyer Suhair Ayoub for passing information on to Islamic Jihad prisoners from their leaders in Gaza and vice versa.

The newspaper added that lawyer Ayoub has been detained until all legal proceedings against her end and the other three lawyers were released with restrictions.

It claimed that Ayoub was passing messages about appointments within the ranks of Islamic Jihad prisoners, their incarceration conditions, and their activities in prison.

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Jihad calls on resistance factions to capture more IOF soldiers

[ 14/04/2011 - 09:12 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Islamic Jihad movement has called on all Palestinian resistance factions to capture more Israeli occupation soldiers to trade them for Palestinian prisoners.

Jihad leader Ahmed Al-Mudalal said during a rally organized by Jihad students on Wednesday in solidarity with the prisoners that the Israeli occupation authority's practices against those prisoners would not weaken their determination and resoluteness.

He said that the issue of thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli occupation jails, including 136 who have served more than 20 years, is a humanitarian issue. Most of those prisoners are held for resisting occupation of their country.

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