Wave of Israeli Arrests Targeting Fatah Commanders

Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian boy during clashes in West Bank. Credit: Reuters
Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian boy during clashes in West Bank. Credit: Reuters
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Wave of Israeli Arrests Targeting Fatah Commanders

Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian boy during clashes in West Bank. Credit: Reuters
Israeli soldiers detain a Palestinian boy during clashes in West Bank. Credit: Reuters

The Israeli occupation forces have launched a wide-scope arrest campaign in East Jerusalem in the past months, targeting mainly Fatah Movement commanders.

To Israeli authorities, this wave serves security purposes, however, the movement commanders consider it a political campaign to chase its cadres and field leaders.

Israel is not working undercover anymore, said a senior source at the movement bureau. He added that it is bracing Hamas in Gaza Strip, from one side, and targeting Fatah in the West Bank, from the other side.

The source linked this campaign to the Deal of the Century, which – according to him – seeks to undermine every resisting Palestinian party. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put a strategic plan to end the Palestinian cause, he continued.

The Israeli occupation arrested more than 400 Fatah activists from Jerusalem and Ramallah since the beginning of the year. Field leaders are referred to trial or held under administrative detention for extendable six months.

It arrested on Sunday President of the Palestinian Prisoner and Secretary of the Fatah Movement in the Old City of Jerusalem Club Nasser Qus, activists Niaz and Sajid Salaymeh, and the kid Mohammed Yazen Farouk, when they were preparing food aid to be distributed in the Old City to support the families in need during the Month of Ramadan.

Israel public prosecution indicted Monday Fatah Revolutionary Council member Zakaria Zubeidi and Commission of Detainees Affairs lawyer Tarek Bargut with committing security irregularities and carrying out shooting attacks near Ramallah.

Zubeidi, who led the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, was pardoned by Israeli security forces as part of a deal signed with the Palestinian Authority in 2007. But the occupation authorities abolished the decision in Dec. 2011 without justification.



Lebanon President Rejects ‘Seeking Foreign Help’

Aoun meets the Maronite Foundation student delegation. Photo: Lebanese presidency
Aoun meets the Maronite Foundation student delegation. Photo: Lebanese presidency
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Lebanon President Rejects ‘Seeking Foreign Help’

Aoun meets the Maronite Foundation student delegation. Photo: Lebanese presidency
Aoun meets the Maronite Foundation student delegation. Photo: Lebanese presidency

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday said seeking foreign backing against domestic rivals was “unacceptable” and urged unity to confront regional challenges, while Prime Minister Nawaf Salam pledged to press ahead with rebuilding efforts and ensure the state alone controls weapons.

Aoun, speaking to student delegations from the Maronite Foundation in the World and the Beirut Manarati Association, said his administration was working to restore trust between citizens and the state, as well as with the international community.

“Our aim is to put the state back on the right track, continue the economic reforms we began after winning parliament’s confidence, combat corruption, strengthen judicial independence, reform the banking sector and lift banking secrecy,” Aoun said.

He stressed that “no one is above the law in fighting corruption – all taboos have fallen in this regard, and the decision has been made.”

The president warned that Lebanon’s current regional challenges could only be met with unity. “Seeking foreign help against one another at home is unacceptable and has harmed the nation. We must learn from past experiences,” he said.

Aoun added that several reforms had already been passed, with key issues moving in the right direction. “We will address outstanding files calmly and through dialogue to find appropriate solutions,” he said, urging Lebanese to prioritize national interest above all else and seize the opportunities created by renewed Arab and international confidence in Lebanon.

“Our decision is to go towards a state that stands alone, and we are committed to implementing that decision,” he said.

Separately, PM Salam told the Maronite Foundation delegation that Lebanon was “not where we want it to be” as it faced political challenges, economic hardship and the legacy of years of instability.

“We are determined, government and people, to rebuild. This will only happen through an ambitious reform agenda and ensuring the state alone has the right to possess weapons, a process we have already begun,” he said.

Salam said the government was laying the foundations for a “respected, sovereign state” serving all citizens at home and abroad. Rebuilding, he said, was not limited to infrastructure and institutions but also to restoring trust between the state and its people, and between Lebanese at home and in the diaspora.

He called for the role of the diaspora to be expanded beyond remittance-sending to active participation in Lebanon’s political, economic and cultural life, and in representing its voice internationally.

“Your financial support has been crucial, but you are much more than that,” Salam said. “We want you as active partners in Lebanon’s journey to the future – welcome to your homeland today and always.”