Interview with the leader of the Hamas-formed Executive Force

Friday August 17, 2007 07:55 by Palestine Newspaper

Palestine Newspaper interview with Jamal Al Jarrah – Abu Obaidah, leader of the Hamas-formed Executive Force in the Gaza Strip.

Main statements made by Abu Obaidah during the interview

-        The Executive Force does not exist in the West Bank.

-        Hamas-run prisons are open for human rights groups, we ask them to be fair.

-        We never arrested any Fateh member for their political preference.

-        We are working hard to re-train Executive Force members to perform police duties.

-        We are preparing a special force for rapid response.

-        Our main achievements are in the security sector.

The Interview:

The newspaper spoke with Jamal Al Jarrah – Abu Obaidah, General leader of the Hamas-formed Executive Force in the Gaza Strip.  The Executive Force is part of the Ministry of Interior in Gaza, which is still performing its duties, even though the government was dismantled by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas when he formed an emergency government in June.

In the interview, Abu Obaidah stated that the Executive Force is planning to form a special force for rapid response, and that the sector of the security force working in the Ministry of Interior in Gaza will be in charge of reopening the files of collaborators with Israeli security.

He denied that the Executive Force exists in the West Bank, and added that the Force is not pursuing members of the Fateh movement or harassing them for their political preferences.

He added that the “temporary government” in the Gaza Strip did not issue any order to disarm some families in Gaza since the armed members of these families are also members of armed resistance groups.

He also said that the force was formed to aid the security devices in achieving security, and that its members are resistance fighters.

Abu Obaidah accused members of the Preventive Security Force, loyal to Fateh, of repeatedly attacking members of the Executive Force, “forcing the members to fire back in order to defend themselves”.

He stated that Executive Force members have strict orders not to harm, or beat, any prisoner during interrogation, but admitted that sometimes the prisoners are harmed.  He considered these incidents to be rare, and condemned such acts by individual officers.

He explained that all principles of human rights should apply to prisoners, and prisoners should not be harmed in anyway. But he added that the incidents of violence against prisoners that have been reported occurred because “the prisoners attacked members of the force, who then had to defend themselves with force”.

 He stated that members of the force are religious, and are resistance fighters.  He added that they are always guided towards righteousness by religious supervisors.

Abu Obaidah further stated that “there are no Fateh members detained by the Executive Force, and that the Force respects the Fateh movement for its history of resistance against the occupation.  Fateh is not the enemy.”

He also said that the Force has a plan to develop itself and its officers, and will carry out further training for quick response.  According to Abu Obaidah, the Force will be in charge of chasing drug dealers and lawless residents.

Abu Obaidah added that residents in the Gaza Strip are interacting with the force and that several families, known to be armed and powerful, are in contact with the force.

In response to a question about media reports that Executive Force members attempted to sabotage weddings of Fateh members, Abu Abaidah said that this did not happen, and that several weddings took place over the last two months, but “in some weddings, pictures of murderers were raised and there were chants praising them, even though they killed Hamas members.  In those instances, the Executive Force had to intervene and stop this from happening”.

At the end of the interview, Abu Obaidah stated that the Executive Force had managed to achieve security for the residents of Gaza, and continued to protect every respectful resident.

He also stated that the Executive Force does not exist in the West Bank, and that the Fateh movement published these rumors about the existence of the force “in order to justify arrests against Hamas members in the West Bank”.

“We did not form an Executive Force branch in the West Bank”, he said, “We have made no decision to do so”.

It is worth mentioning that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree outlawing the executive force, and gave orders to imprison any resident who is proven to be a member of the force to a period between 3 – 7 years.

translated by: Saed Bannoura, IMEMC 

gaza strip | internal unrest | interview