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| Middle East |
| Hamas sez 16 of its gunnies have been arrested... |
| 2002-05-09 |
| In Gaza City, Hamas officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that 16 members were arrested today by Palestinian police, but would not reveal the identities of those taken into custody. "I do have reports that there is some kind of campaign that has targeted some members of the movement," said Hamas spokesman Ismail Abu Shanab. He said he could not confirm the exact number of those arrested. Shanab is one of the Hamas steering committee in Gaza, one of the four .90 calibers. The arrests appeared to indicate that Arafat is responding to growing US pressure to take action against Palestinian militants. Also that he doesn't want to see Gaza thumped like the West Bank was. But it's also true that his writ doesn't run quite as large in Gaza, so maybe there's something to it — it'd be to Yasser's advantage to exert a little power there. A number of important Hamas figures were killed or captured during the Israeli offensive in the West Bank. However, all of the group's senior leaders are in Gaza, and Israel has so far refrained from targeting them. Which shows that either the Israelis aren't geniuses, either, or that I'm missing some key data... In the past, Palestinian authorities have temporarily detained Hamas leaders, but then released them soon after. In some cases, it appeared the Palestinians took the moves largely to protect the Hamas leaders from possible Israeli attack. Which could very well be what's happening here, if they really expect the tanks to roll. Otherwise, those "arrested" are small fry. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |