Is Hamas using coronavirus to gain support in West Bank? – analysis

In the past week, PA security forces arrested a number of Hamas activists after they were caught distributing food parcels and cash to needy families.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
A Palestinian boy wears the headband of Hamas' armed wing as he takes part in a rally to protest against an Israeli police raid on Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque, in Gaza City September 15, 2015 (photo credit: REUTERS/SUHAIB SALEM)
A Palestinian boy wears the headband of Hamas' armed wing as he takes part in a rally to protest against an Israeli police raid on Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque, in Gaza City September 15, 2015
(photo credit: REUTERS/SUHAIB SALEM)
The Palestinian Authority believes Hamas is using the coronavirus crisis to score points with Palestinians in the West Bank.
In the past week, PA security forces arrested a number of Hamas activists after they were caught distributing food parcels and cash to needy families.
One of those arrested by the PA security forces is Fadel Jabareen, head of the Islamic Charitable Society, a nonprofit organization in Hebron suspected of being affiliated with Hamas.
Several other workers of the organization who were caught distributing food and money to families in the Hebron area have been summoned for interrogation by the PA Preventive Security Force.
Jabareen’s wife said her husband was arrested on Tuesday night because he had been distributing food parcels to orphans in the West Bank.
“My husband was distributing food to orphans, not settlers,” she said in a Facebook post.
Earlier, PA security forces arrested Eyad Nasser, 40, on suspicion of distributing food parcels to families in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm. Nasser is also suspected of being affiliated with Hamas.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, the PA has permitted emergency committees whose members belong to the ruling Fatah faction to operate in most Palestinian villages and cities in the West Bank. The committee members have been assisting PA security forces in enforcing lockdowns on some cities and villages to curb the spread of the virus. In addition, they have been involved in various relief activities, including the distribution of food and cash to needy families.
“The Palestinian Authority does not want any party other than Fatah to help the families,” said Omar Abu Rmaileh, a mosque imam from Hebron.
Wasfi Qabaha, a senior Hamas representative in the West Bank, condemned the PA’s security crackdown on the suspected Hamas relief workers. He called on PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh to explain why the PA government was targeting relief workers who do not belong to Fatah.
“Is charitable work limited only to those who belong to Fatah?” Qabaha asked. “Has the distribution of food parcels to needy families become a dangerous crime?”