Former Palestinian minister: PA arresting Palestinians to stop current intifada

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has launched an arrest campaign against Hamas members to quell the ongoing intifada, Palestinian newspaper Al-Resalah reported a former senior official saying yesterday.

Former Palestinian Minister of Prisoners Affairs Wasfi Qabha, a senior Hamas leader, said: “The PA security services have been carrying out arrest campaigns against members of the Islamic Bloc [Hamas’s student movement] in an attempt to stop the expansion of the intifada.”

Qabha described the arrest campaign as “violent” and “arbitrary”, stressing that it is threatening the intifada and adding “much more pressure and tension among Palestinians.” He warned of a “joint PA-Israeli plan to quell the intifada.”

He reiterated that the PA security services ban Palestinians from reaching Israeli checkpoints in cooperation with the occupation, noting that the PA deters Palestinians protestors and arrest them.

Israeli authorities have held several meetings with PA security commanders in the West Bank to coordinate efforts to stop the new intifada.