Gaza City/Ramallah - The Islamist Hamas movement on Saturday
completed the formation of its new navy, saying it would start its
work on the shores of the Gaza Strip soon, as rival Fatah reported 20
Palestinians were wounded in the northern Gaza Strip.
The new force and the Palestinian Authority marine service, loyal
to President Mahmoud Abbas' of Fatah, would work together to bridge
the gap left by Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip last month, a Hamas
spokesman said.
The 150 troops are due to run the marine police headquarters in
Gaza City, with their tasks including the fighting of drug smuggling
through the sea and the securing the property of Palestinian
fishermen, the spokesman added.
Earlier, Israeli military sources said Israeli gunboat crews were
given instructions on how to deal with the Hamas force, which will
operate without vessels.
In recent weeks, Hamas has been setting up new security services
and reorganized existing departments in an attempt to impose better
control on the territory seized from Fatah.
The Islamic movement established an intelligence body only a few
weeks ago.
Members of the Hamas-run Executive Security Force, meanwhile,
wounded at least 20 Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip
overnight, officials from the rival Fatah movement of President
Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday.
Fatah spokesman in the West Bank Fahmi al-Za'areer told reporters
that Hamas militias attacked overnight dozens of people staging a
spontaneous protest in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun.
Witnesses in the town told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that
members of the Hamas executive force had on Friday night detained
four senior Fatah leaders in raids on their homes.
'Things started up when Hamas forces stormed a wedding party held
in the town because some people who were celebrating shot in the air
from their rifles during the party,' the officials said.
Hamas security forces had instructed a few weeks ago that they
were determined to end people bearing arms in the streets of Gaza,
including opening fire in the air during wedding parties.
One of the witnesses speaking on condition of anonymity said that
as soon as the four Fatah leaders were detained, dozens of women and
young men took to the streets to protest their arrest.
The protesting women marched towards the Hamas force
headquarters in the town, the witness said, adding 'Hamas attacked
the protesters,' wounding 20 of them.
'The arrests of the four Fatah leaders in the town of Bei Hanoun
Friday overnight and attacking the women's demonstration and wounding
20 of them can never be justified,' al-Za'areer said.
Meanwhile, Fatah sources said on Saturday that Hamas arrested 15
Fatah activists and leaders in southern Gaza Strip town of Khan
Younis.
Security forces of the Islamic Hamas movement took control of the
Gaza Strip on June 14 after defeating Abbas' Fatah forces.
In other developments Saturday, a Hamas commander in the West
Bank, Mu'aied Bani Ouda, admitted on Palestinian state television to
helping Israel to kill five militants.
The confessions were aired a day after supporters of the Islamic
movement took to the streets in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip to protest
against the alleged killing of Ouda by security services loyal to
rival Fatah.
The main two Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah have been
responsible for kidnappings on both sides of the territorial divide -
the Fatah-run West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which fell in Hamas'
hands after clashes in mid-June.
According to the tape, Ouda joined Hamas in 2001. Two years
later, the Israeli intelligence recruited him as a spy after
arresting him and implicating him in a sexual scandal.
Ouda added in the recorded programme that was dated Friday that he
had guided the Israeli army to the hideaway of five Palestinian
militant activists in the West Bank, enabling the soldiers to kill
them.
But the Ouda family has insisted that Mu'aied made the confessions
under torture he was submitted to since his capture by Palestinian
security forces on July 22.
Ahead of the broadcast, the Hamas issued a statement condemning
the contradictory reports President Mahmoud Abbas' forces had
circulated on Ouda's situation.
The Hamas statement warned the security agencies against putting
pressure on Ouda and forcing him to claim responsibility for acts he
had not committed.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
Rick DickAug 11th, 2007 - 20:27:32
They don't have any colleges, and certainly No jobs,,,But they sure as hell have a navy. That's F-in amazing!!!!
I always said prorities come first.
What a bankrupt people.
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