Hamas to Fatah: Only Zionist protection keeping you safe in West Bank

[bemildred]

Hamas Islamists threatened their Fatah rivals on Tuesday with future retaliation in the West Bank for a campaign of arrests by forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, saying the only thing keeping the militant group from attacking Fatah in the West Bank was their "protection of the Zionists" there.

A senior Palestinian security official in Ramallah dismissed the threats as those of "irresponsible people".

Abbas' security forces have detained at least 150 Hamas supporters in the West Bank in response to a sweep in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas seized nearly 200 Fatah sympathizers after a bomb blast killed five Hamas militants and a girl on Friday. Hamas blamed the bombing on Fatah, which denies involvement.

"Now the Zionists are protecting you," Hamas said in a statement addressed to security forces in the West Bank. "You know that once the protection of the Zionists is over, people will enter your headquarters and kick you out," it said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1006643.html