Hamas, factions: Israel’s abduction of Qufeisheh, Ja’bari crime

Hamas on Sunday firmly condemned Israel’s abduction of Palestinian MP Hatem Qufeisheh and former minister Issa al-Ja’bari from their own homes in al-Khalil earlier in the day.

Hamas said the abduction raises several questions for it was carried out only a few hours after a series of statements by Fatah officials threatened to assassinate Hamas activists in the occupied West Bank.

National resistance factions in the blockaded Gaza Strip, called for launching a probe into the attack and identifying the perpetrators.

The factions spoke out against the terrorism perpetrated by Israeli fanatic settlers in Occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank.

They further urged the international community to step in and seriously work on halting Israeli crimes against the Palestinians.

The Change and Reform Bloc also slammed the abduction of Qufeisheh and al-Jaabari, dubbing it a preplanned crime and an instance of political bankruptcy.

“Israel’s policy of arbitrary abductions against our MPs and activists in the West Bank will neither dampen the spirits of our people nor blur our anti-occupation horizon,” the group added.

The bloc said the abduction is a translation on the ground of the threats launched by Fatah leaders against Hamas affiliates in the occupied West Bank.

It called on the PA and Fatah to think twice and fulfill their national responsibilities instead of exacerbating the national rift and spoiling the efforts made in favor of national reconciliation.

The Israeli occupation forces at dawn Sunday kidnapped the Palestinian MP Hatem Qufeisheh and the former Palestinian minister Issa al-Ja’bari, from their family homes in the southern occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil.

Qufeisheh’s brother, Subhi, said Israeli army soldiers wreaked havoc on his brother’s home and kidnapped him shortly after unknown assailants torched the MP’s car.

Both Qufeisheh and al-Ja’bari were kidnapped just a few hours after supporters of Majed Faraj, the head of the Palestinian Authority General Intelligence Service in Bethlehem, threatened to assassinate Hamas activists in the West Bank.

A few days earlier, Faraj admitted the PA security apparatuses foiled 200 anti-occupation attacks and arrested over 100 Palestinian activists since the start of the Jerusalem Uprising in early October.