Hamas slams shipments of weapons from Israel to the PA

Sunday September 07, 2008 10:29 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

The Islamist Hamas party in Gaza slammed yesterday recent reports on delivery by Israel of weapons shipments to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.

Fawzi Barhoum, spokesman of Hamas in Gaza, said in a statement " the weapons which Israel allowed in to the security services in the West Bank, the latest were 10000 machine guns, have all been a part of empowering such services to further undermine Hamas and other resistance factions there".

He added that such actions would help enhance current division between Gaza's rulers and the West Bank rulers, and that this would suppress freedoms , pointing out that the Palestinian people rather need weapons to defy the occupation not to protect it'.

" All such attempts will fail in the end of the day, as Gaza stands as a fine example of the Palestinian people's steadfastness in the face of the occupation", Barhoum explained.

The West Bank-based Palestinian government was installed one month after the Hamas party seized control of the coastal region and ousted Fatah-loyal security forces. In a time the Ramallah government enjoys western backing , the Hamas elected government has been internationally boycotted.

For more than a year now, both governments have traded accusations of cracking down on supporters of each other in both Gaza and the West Bank.

gaza strip | miscellaneous | news report rami at imemc dot org