With eye on Hamas, Fatah enlists 4,000 for Civil War, WWW.PROISRAELFOREVER.COM
- From: proisraelforever@xxxxxxx
- Date: 18 Jun 2006 19:59:33 -0700
The Preventive Security Forces in Gaza and other centrist Fatah forces
under the command of Mohammed Dahlan recently recruited over 4,000
young Palestinians to their ranks in anticipation of a potential
confrontation with Hamas.
About 2,500 men volunteered for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and
Al-Asifa in the southern Gaza Strip, while the remainder will serve as
rank-and-file soldiers in the Preventive Security Forces.
Talks between Fatah and Hamas on the prisoners' document, which calls
for Israel's return to the '67 borders, are continuing. The speaker of
the Palestinian Legislative Council, Sheikh Aziz Dweik, said yesterday
that the organizations could reach an agreement within two days.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said yesterday that
the talks were held in a very positive atmosphere and expressed his
hope that a resolution would be possible within a few days.
Two Islamic Jihad militants were killed in an Israel Defense Forces
operation in Gaza on Friday night. IDF officials claim the two had an
active role in firing Qassam rockets at Israel recently.
Dahlan's Preventive Security Forces is in the front lines of Fatah's
fighting with Hamas. A few of the forces' senior officers have been
killed or injured recently in defensive actions. In the most recent
incident, Hamas militants ambushed the forces' local commander in Khan
Yunis, Rifat Kulab, shooting and wounding him. They later went to his
home and set it on fire.
In the past two months, two groups, of 750 fresh recruits each,
underwent basic training at the force's Tel al-Hawa base before being
absorbed into the new "operational force" that is under the authority
of the preventive forces. Rashid Abu Shabak, one of Dahlan's closest
friends, is the commander of the preventive forces.
An additional 800 young men from the northern Gaza Strip - Beit Lahia,
Beit Hanun and the Jabalya refugee camp - were absorbed into an
independent force that will become the Fatah's reserve unit. They were
also trained at Tel al-Hawa.
The largest new force was created in the southern Gaza Strip, in the
Rafah and Khan Yunis area. Al-Asifa ("the storm," which took its name
from Fatah's military force of the 1960s-'80s) is under the command of
Abd Al-Rauf Barbah, an officer from the Preventive Security Forces who
is considered a "very colorful" figure in Gaza. He recruited 1,500
young men who underwent basic arms training. His forces were not,
however, involved in the battles near the force's headquarters in
Rafah, which Hamas attempted to take over.
Rumors are circulating in Gaza concerning the source of the funds for
training the new soldiers, but neither it nor the exact connection of
Dahlan to the new military frameworks is clearly defined. All the
commanders are thought to be close to him. But he denies all connection
to the activities of the preventive forces or to Al-Aqsa. However, the
Hamas posters in Gaza denouncing the former commander's continuing
connection to the forces speak for themselves.
Palestinian sources say the recent signups are not connected to the
reinforcement of Abbas' presidential guard.
Shlomo Shamir adds: "[Hamas] say they're besieged, but Arafat [and
Fatah were] besieged ... but never did anything to provoke civil war,
and we never stopped salaries either," Dahlan said Friday in an
interview published yesterday in The New York Times, in which he
described last Wednesday's meeting between Abbas and Haniyeh.
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