'PA to publicize confessions of Hamas terrorists'

Report comes after Hamas cell arrested for planning attacks on West Bank mayor; Hamas says it does not attack other Palestinians.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
PA Security Forces 311 (photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
PA Security Forces 311
(photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Palestinian Authority security forces plan to publish confessions of members of a Hamas-related cell that planned terror attacks in the West Bank and to kill the leader of Nablus, A-Sharq Al-Awsat reported on Thursday.
The cell members, including one woman, were arrested last week after the PA revealed the plan to kill Nablus mayor Adly Yaish. The cell also planned to bomb PA police stations and kidnap settlers.
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The Palestinian officials who informed  the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency of the arrests claimed the Hamas cell was based in Nablus with a support network stretching throughout the northern part of the West Bank. They said that the PA forces had raided the group's headquarters in Nablus, confiscating weapons and cash belonging to the men.
A-Sharq Al-Awsat added that the PA will publicize the confessions, because Hamas has denied that its members planned the attacks. Last week, Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar said that it is not part of Hamas policy to attack fellow Palestinians, and that its weapons are pointed only at "the Zionist occupier."
The latest PA move against Hamas in the West Bank is being viewed by Israeli security officials as part of an impressive overall effort to stem the Islamist organization, according to Shlomo Brom, director of the program on Israeli-Palestinian relations at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies.
“The security community has been impressed by what they’ve been seeing over the past year,” Brom said.
“Hamas’s situation in the West Bank is not good, both because of Israel’s actions – Israel recently declared that there were no more wanted suspects in the West Bank – and the efficient operations of the PA,” Brom added.
Yaakov Katz contributed to this report.