Intra-Paleostinian reconciliation between the rival Hamas and Fatah movements may be technically be underway in the Gazoo Strip‐with the Paleostinian Authority (PA) assuming civilian control over the strip‐but it has not stopped Paleostinian security forces from arresting dozens of Hamas operatives, some of them bigwigs.
During the month of October, the Paleostinian Authority's General Intelligence and Preventive Security tossed in the slammer
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
more than 50 Hamas operatives in the West Bank. In addition, 130 further operatives belonging to other factions such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine (PFLP) and the Paleostinian Islamic Jihad
...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah...
(PIJ) were also arrested.
The continued policy of arresting dissidents in the West Bank points to the steadfastness of President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial...'s insistence to not allow Hamas to gain a foothold‐even the smallest civilian one‐in the West Bank, going against Hamas bigwigs' hope that the PA would show more leniency following the reconciliation agreement.
Paleostinian security forces arrests were carried out concurrently with the regular, nightly search and arrest operations conducted by IDF forces within the PA's territory, effectively blocking Hamas from developing any military or civilian infrastructures in the area.
The Paleostinian government resumed control over its Gazoo Strip ministries at the beginning of October, with Paleostinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah entering the strip accompanied by his cabinet of ministers.
Hamdallah was also accompanied by senior Paleostinian Security Forces officials, including head of Paleostinian General Intelligence Majid Faraj, who even met Hamas's Gazoo chief Yahya Sinwar personally.
Their meeting did not stop Faraj, however, from returning to the West Bank and orchestrating a wave of arrests, during which 40 Hamas operatives were picked up within only a week and a half.
Meanwhile,
...back at the comedy club, Boogie ducked another tomato...
the Gazoo Strip showed an inverse trend, with Hamas releasing Fatah operatives arrested months ago due to their political affiliation as a gesture of good will.
It appears the PA continues to maintain aloofness when it comes to the reconciliation, despite Abbas's declarations to the contrary. Hamas, for its part, dismantled its shadow government, handed over civilian control to the Paleostinian government, transferred control of the border checkpoint to the PA and dismantled its forward operating bases, used to question passersby and collect taxes.
Despite the aforementioned actions on Hamas's part, Abbas has refrained for the past two months from announcing the removal of sanctions he'd placed on the strip before the current reconciliation effort bore fruit.