DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - HOLY LAND: FATAH IS DISARMING HAMAS IN WEST BANK

Hamas is in hiding but still targeting West Bank
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Hamas leaders in the West Bank have been driven underground by a Fatah campaign of kidnappings and arrests, but the Islamic militants warn they'll eventually come out of hiding to try to destabilize the rule of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with car bombings and assassinations.

Hamas is too weak now for a frontal assault on Fatah in the West Bank, but Iranian funding for Hamas, Abbas' political weakness and Fatah infighting could one day change the balance, Fatah leaders, Hamas militants and Israeli analysts say.

Security forces allied with Abbas say they're determined to snuff out Hamas in the West Bank. The president has declared the Hamas militias illegal, and his security chiefs said they wouldn't just go after Hamas' weapons, but also its money.

"The only way to deal with Hamas ... is by dismantling every single military cell in the West Bank, and that's what the security apparatus is doing now," said Kamal Abu Rob, a Fatah lawmaker.

The best insurance against a Hamas takeover might come from elsewhere: Israel's relentless pursuit of Hamas has kept the militants on the defensive and the resumption of foreign aid to the West Bank, after a 15-month boycott, could swing public opinion strongly in Abbas' favor.

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INTERVIEW-Hamas could strike in W.Bank - Abbas adviser
by Sean Maguire and Alastair Macdonald

RAMALLAH, West Bank, June 19 (Reuters) - Violence that swept Hamas to power in Gaza could be repeated in the West Bank if the ruling Fatah party and its security forces are not reformed, the Palestinian national security adviser said on Tuesday.

Mohammad Dahlan, who runs Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas's security forces, accepted that mistakes had been made during their rout by the Islamists last week and said he would cooperate with an inquiry into his own role.

Asked if Hamas, which also has substantial support in the West Bank, could strike there, Dahlan said: "Absolutely. If serious reforms are not undertaken in the security forces it would be easy for Hamas to take over the West Bank."

Now cut off from his base in Gaza and speaking to Reuters at an apartment in the West Bank City of Ramallah, he said, however, that the strength of Hamas and over Fatah's fighters was no surprise, despite Fatah's apparently greater numbers.

Abbas's men lacked the Islamists' aggressive dedication to a clear goal, he said. He also accused the United States of failing to make good on pledges of support, and Israel of deliberately blocking arms supplies to help divide Palestinians into a Hamas-run Gaza Strip and Fatah-controlled West Bank.

Of the West Bank, he said: "It would be very easy for a few people who have a goal to succeed over a large army that does not have a goal and does not have proper weaponry."

He argued, however, that Hamas was losing popular support by its actions in Gaza and would find that support further eroded by having to run the territory. Hamas "fell into a trap" laid by Israel, he said.

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Hit hard in West Bank, Hamas vows comeback
‘The West Bank may surprise the world,’ says one hard-liner

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Hamas leaders in the West Bank have been driven underground by a Fatah campaign of kidnappings and arrests, but the Islamic militants warn they’ll eventually come out of hiding to try to destabilize the rule of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with car bombings and assassinations.

Hamas is too weak now for a frontal assault on Fatah in the West Bank, but Iranian funding for Hamas, Abbas’ political weakness and Fatah infighting could one day change the balance, Fatah leaders, Hamas militants and Israeli analysts say.

Security forces allied with Abbas say they’re determined to snuff out Hamas in the West Bank. The president has declared the Hamas militias illegal, and his security chiefs said they wouldn’t just go after Hamas’ weapons, but also its money.

“The only way to deal with Hamas ... is by dismantling every single military cell in the West Bank, and that’s what the security apparatus is doing now,” said Kamal Abu Rob, a Fatah lawmaker.

The best insurance against a Hamas takeover might come from elsewhere: Israel’s relentless pursuit of Hamas has kept the militants on the defensive and the resumption of foreign aid to the West Bank, after a 15-month boycott, could swing public opinion strongly in Abbas’ favor.

Hamas leaders are keeping their heads down. In the past week, some 120 Hamas activists have been arrested by security forces or kidnapped by a violent Fatah offshoot.

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Pertinent Links:

1) Hamas is in hiding but still targeting West Bank

2) INTERVIEW-Hamas could strike in W.Bank - Abbas adviser