Hamas, Islamic Jihad slams PA for quelling march against occupation

Hamas and Islamic Jihad have strongly denounced the Palestinian Authority (PA) for allowing its security forces on Friday to suppress a protest march called for by the Palestine Liberation organization (PLO) factions in Ramallah city.

Senior Islamic Jihad official Khader Adnan, who is a member of the national committee of freedoms, condemned the assault on the participants in the march as a blatant violation of the Palestinians’ right to resist the occupation.

Plain-clothes officers from the PA presidential guard violently attacked on Friday afternoon the participants in the march and prevented them from walking to the military barriers near Beit El settlement near Ramallah and al-Bireh cities to protest the Israeli ongoing violations and crimes against the Palestinian people.

Adnan also deplored the PA security forces for assaulting journalists during the march and confiscating their cameras to prevent them from covering their violations.

He called on the PA to give its people a free hand to negotiate the occupation in their own way, stressing that the occupation can only be confronted through resistance and intifada (uprising).

For his part, Hamas official and lawmaker Basem al-Za’arir accused the PA of protecting Israel’s security, describing its assault on protesters marching to Beit El checkpoint in Ramallah as “contrary to the Palestinian people’s will.”

Za’arir added that “the PA wants to send a reassurance message to the occupation that it will continue to do what it should do to protect its security.”

In the same context, head of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa al-Barghouthi described what happened to the Ramallah march as “unacceptable and against the national consensus about the intifada.”

Barghouthi, who was one of the participants in the march, called on the PA officials who were responsible for subduing the marchers to reconsider their anti-national positions.

“What happened was strange and contrary to the consensus. We were surprised to see the security apparatuses preventing the march from heading to Beit El checkpoint,” he told al-Aqsa satellite channel on Friday.