Palestinian Authority continues crackdown on Hamas supporters

In the Hebron area, the PA General Intelligence Service arrested Anan al-Shahateet, a student at the Polytechnic University, and summoned for interrogation his colleague, Mohamed Rashaideh.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Palestinian Authority police officers stand guard in the West Bank [File] (photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian Authority police officers stand guard in the West Bank [File]
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinian Authority security forces continued their crackdown on Hamas supporters in the West Bank on Monday.
In the Hebron area, the PA General Intelligence Service arrested Anan al-Shahateet, a student at the Polytechnic University, and summoned for interrogation his colleague, Mohamed Rashaideh.
Meanwhile, the PA Preventive Security Service in Hebron arrested 15-year-old Mohamed al-Awawdah.
He is the fourth 10th-grade pupil to be taken into custody in recent days.
In Nablus, 37-year-old Majdi al-Qutub, who recently was arrested by PA security forces, was transferred to the hospital after suffering a health setback, sources close to Hamas in the city said. Two of his brothers, Said and Amjad, were Hamas members who were killed by the IDF during the second Intifada, they said.
In Bethlehem, PA security officers arrested Issa Jawarish, who had spent seven years in Israeli jails for membership in Hamas, and the officers also stormed the homes of two other Hamas supporters in the city, Islam al-Wardiyan and Qaher Abu Kamal, serving them with summonses to report for interrogation.
In the town of Toubas in the northern West Bank, the PA arrested Nader Sawaftah, a senior Hamas official who previously served lengthy prison sentences in Israel.
Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip strongly condemned the ongoing security clampdown on their men in the West Bank, saying it was a sign of continued security coordination between the PA and Israel.