Israel Matzav

'Fighting' terror: Deja vu all over again

One of the premises of the Oslo conference mugging lynching is that 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen's good terrorists from Fatah are fighting the bad terrorists from Hamas. In fact, we are told, Fatah has gained control over the city of Shchem (Nablus) by assigning three hundred new troops there. So what do they do with the terrorists they capture? As always with Fatah, it's the revolving door method:

The majority of Hamas detainees arrested by PA President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces in the West Bank since June have been released, sources close to Hamas have told The Jerusalem Post.

According to the sources, not a single Hamas detainee has been put on trial so far.

In a bid to defuse tensions with Hamas on the eve of the peace conference in Annapolis, the Palestinian Authority on Sunday also released three Hamas members from prison.

The decision to release the Hamas men was taken by the PA leadership in Ramallah shortly before Abbas and members of the Palestinian negotiating team headed to the US to participate in the conference.

The decision was taken in spite of Hamas's increased threats, in the past few days, to foil the peace conference. Hamas spokesmen have also stepped up their criticism of Abbas, warning him against making any concessions to Israel during the conference.

One of the three men who were released was Ahmed Dolah, a senior Hamas leader from Nablus. He was arrested more than three months ago in the context of a massive PA clampdown on Hamas figures and institutions in the West Bank.

The other two who were released Sunday were Ala al-Titi and Assid Amarneh, both from Hamas. The two, who work for Hamas's Al-Aqsa TV in Hebron, were arrested by the PA security forces 30 days ago.

The release of the three came as a surprise even to Hamas leaders. Only a day earlier, the PA security forces prevented two senior Hamas officials, Hassan Abu Kwaik and Faraj Rumaneh, from holding a press conference in Ramallah. The two were briefly detained and warned against making public appearances against the Annapolis conference.

As Yogi Berra would say, this is like deja vu all over again.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:13 PM