Fatah activists are settling scores with Hamas in Lebanon as well as West Bank. Hamas threatens a wave of terror

Fatah lines up for revenge on West Bank


DEBKAfile Exclusive: Fatah activists are settling scores with Hamas in Lebanon as well as West Bank. Hamas threatens a wave of terror

June 16, 2007, 10:42 PM (GMT+02:00)




Rampaging Fatah gunmen took revenge for their defeat in Gaza on Hamas activists on the West Bank in a rampage Sat. June 16 through the Hamas-held parliament, government and local council offices on the West Bank. Hundreds of Hamas officials were detained.

Saturday night, Fatah gunmen also hurled themselves against Hamas bases and offices in Lebanese refugee camps. Serious clashes erupted near the southern port of Sidon.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the IDF is quietly allowing Fatah intelligence officers and al Aqsa Brigades activists freedom of movement across the West Bank. They are not stopped at Israeli checkpoints and allowed to pass without the usual searches for weapons or explosives.

Hamas has warned Fatah to call off its purges in the West Bank and Lebanon or else face deadly terrorist attacks including suicide bombings, shooting attacks and car bombs. Mahmoud Abbas’ government headquarters and the homes of Fatah political and military leaders will be singled out.

According to our Palestinian sources, Mohammed Dahlan, Abbas’ No 2, who has just arrived secretly in Ramallah, is a prime Hamas target.

They add that Sami Abu Zuhairi, who issued the threat to Fatah, headed a group of Hamas intelligence and terrorist officers who trained near Khartoum especially for the Gaza coup under Iranian Revolutionary Guards instructors.

Abu Zuhairi now heads the intelligence team urgently sifting through the archives captured in the offices of Palestinian Authority security services, as DEBKAfile revealed on June 15. He also led the looting of Yasser Arafat’s villa in Gaza Saturday in search of incriminating materials against Fatah and Israeli leaders in the records of the 12 years Arafat and top PLO leaders spent in Tunis from 1982-1994.