A Palestinian security official accuses Hamas of buying weapons in the West Bank

Tuesday September 23, 2008 01:18 by IMEMC News

Raji Al Najmi, a Palestinian major-general and the security affairs assistant to the Interior Minister, accused the Hamas movement of using its civil institutions to finance buying weapons in the West Bank. The official also accused Hamas of being responsible for providing medications, 90% of which were expired, after their discovery by security forces in the West Bank.

The Middle East Newspaper quoted Al Najmi stating that “the institutions of Hamas are financing the purchasing of weapons and are paying the salaries of the outlawed Executive Force of Hamas”.

“What does a society that finances the education of children have to do with buying weapons”, he said, “We licensed societies that help people, and then we found out that these societies are paying the salaries of the executive force and are buying weapons”.

Al Najmi also accused Hamas of being responsible of the mostly expired medications that were caught by the security forces in the West Bank, and said that these medications were meant to be sold in order to finance purchasing weapons.

He also said that the Executive Force of Hamas, which was outlawed by President Mahmoud Abbas, is operating secretly in the West Bank, and added that security forces are acting against the force and its members.

“We will not allow any weapons except the legal weapons of the Palestinian Authority”, he added.

west bank | internal unrest | news report saed at imemc dot org