Abbas' Revolving Door for Arrested Hamas Members

IRIS Blog

Monday, November 26. 2007

Abbas' Revolving Door for Arrested Hamas Members

Mahmoud Abbas, Yassir Arafat's deputy of four decades, has made one innovation on his mentor's playbook. Arafat used to stage photo-ops of Hamas arrests, and then release them after the permanent concessions were received from Israel. Abbas has released them before the end of the peace negotiations:

The majority of Hamas detainees arrested by PA President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces in the West Bank since June have been released, sources close to Hamas have told The Jerusalem Post.

According to the sources, not a single Hamas detainee has been put on trial so far.

In a bid to defuse tensions with Hamas on the eve of the peace conference in Annapolis, the Palestinian Authority on Sunday also released three Hamas members from prison.

The decision to release the Hamas men was taken by the PA leadership in Ramallah shortly before Abbas and members of the Palestinian negotiating team headed to the US to participate in the conference.

The decision was taken in spite of Hamas's increased threats, in the past few days, to foil the peace conference.

Why would Abbas do this if there is a "civil war" occurring between Fatah and Hamas?

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Posted by Barak in Fatah Abbas at 16:36 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

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