3 may 2016
The Palestinian Authority (PA) security apparatuses arrested 10 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and injured others on account of their involvement in anti-occupation activism.
Reporting from Nablus, a PIC journalist said the PA attacked a reception held to welcome the newly-released detainee Alam Ubeid after nine years in Israeli jails.
Several Palestinians were left injured as the PA forces showered the area with live bullet fire.
In Tulkarem, the PA Preventive Forces kidnapped the ex-prisoner Alaa Shreitah just one month after he had been released from Israeli jails, where he had spent 14 years.
The same forces kidnapped 22-year-old Ahmad Abu Zuhra from his workplace. Sources-based in Ramallah also said the PA forces kidnapped the ex-prisoner Musaab al-Barghouti, who had previously been tortured in PA lock-ups.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces kidnapped three young men from Termes’aya village, a couple of days after they had been released from the PA prison, where they had served a three-month-sentence on charges of planning for anti-occupation activities.
A Palestinian instructor and university student were also kidnapped by the PA General Intelligence from al-Khalil city.
The PA intelligence in Bethlehem kidnapped the youngster Ahmad Radi from the Aida refugee camp at the same time as the PA Preventive Forces kidnapped the two brothers Khalil and Omar Kanaan, enrolled at the Quds University. Ibrahim Surur was also kidnapped in the process.
Earlier, on Monday evening, the PA intelligence troops kidnapped the journalist Adeeb al-Atrash after they summoned him for interrogation in al-Khalil, the journalist’s family told the PIC.
Journalist al-Atrash was arrested shortly after he had received his MA degree from a university abroad. The family slammed Israel’s abduction of their son, saying the move is a serious violation of Palestinians’ right to the freedom of the press.
Reporting from Nablus, a PIC journalist said the PA attacked a reception held to welcome the newly-released detainee Alam Ubeid after nine years in Israeli jails.
Several Palestinians were left injured as the PA forces showered the area with live bullet fire.
In Tulkarem, the PA Preventive Forces kidnapped the ex-prisoner Alaa Shreitah just one month after he had been released from Israeli jails, where he had spent 14 years.
The same forces kidnapped 22-year-old Ahmad Abu Zuhra from his workplace. Sources-based in Ramallah also said the PA forces kidnapped the ex-prisoner Musaab al-Barghouti, who had previously been tortured in PA lock-ups.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces kidnapped three young men from Termes’aya village, a couple of days after they had been released from the PA prison, where they had served a three-month-sentence on charges of planning for anti-occupation activities.
A Palestinian instructor and university student were also kidnapped by the PA General Intelligence from al-Khalil city.
The PA intelligence in Bethlehem kidnapped the youngster Ahmad Radi from the Aida refugee camp at the same time as the PA Preventive Forces kidnapped the two brothers Khalil and Omar Kanaan, enrolled at the Quds University. Ibrahim Surur was also kidnapped in the process.
Earlier, on Monday evening, the PA intelligence troops kidnapped the journalist Adeeb al-Atrash after they summoned him for interrogation in al-Khalil, the journalist’s family told the PIC.
Journalist al-Atrash was arrested shortly after he had received his MA degree from a university abroad. The family slammed Israel’s abduction of their son, saying the move is a serious violation of Palestinians’ right to the freedom of the press.
30 apr 2016
The family of 13-year-old Ahmed Maskawi, from Balata refugee camp in Nablus, has appealed to human rights groups to intervene with the Palestinian Authority (PA) preventive security apparatus to release its son.
The family told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that all efforts to have its son released failed, pointing out that he has been in detention for about 59 days.
According to the family, the security authorities claim that the absence of a current mayor for Nablus prevent them from releasing Maskawi, who is detained for alleged Facebook remarks.
The father said that his son is a school student and his presence in detention would not unable him to take his exams.
The family told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that all efforts to have its son released failed, pointing out that he has been in detention for about 59 days.
According to the family, the security authorities claim that the absence of a current mayor for Nablus prevent them from releasing Maskawi, who is detained for alleged Facebook remarks.
The father said that his son is a school student and his presence in detention would not unable him to take his exams.
26 apr 2016
The Palestinian Authority (PA) forces on Monday evening handed five Israeli settlers who entered Jericho city to the Israeli occupation forces.
According to the Israeli Yedioth Aharonot newspaper, the PA forces stopped five settlers as they crept into Jericho in an attempt to perform sacrilegious rituals in a holy site.
In a preplanned scheme of security coordination with the Israeli occupation, the PA troops have often returned settlers and officers who infiltrated into Palestinian towns and villages to the IOF, in a move that sparked wide-spread condemnation among the Palestinians.
According to the Israeli Yedioth Aharonot newspaper, the PA forces stopped five settlers as they crept into Jericho in an attempt to perform sacrilegious rituals in a holy site.
In a preplanned scheme of security coordination with the Israeli occupation, the PA troops have often returned settlers and officers who infiltrated into Palestinian towns and villages to the IOF, in a move that sparked wide-spread condemnation among the Palestinians.
20 apr 2016
Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, slammed the Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas for neglecting the Intifada and resistance action, and described his statements in which he declared his adherence to security coordination with Israel as dangerous.
In a statement, the Hamas’s spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called on Abbas to stop releasing such strange statements and positions which are not consistent with the Palestinian national ideology.
In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, Abbas said that Hamas tries to explode the situation and that the PA security forces managed via coordination with the Israeli army to arrest three Palestinian youths from Ramallah who were planning a “terrorist” attack.
In a statement, the Hamas’s spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called on Abbas to stop releasing such strange statements and positions which are not consistent with the Palestinian national ideology.
In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, Abbas said that Hamas tries to explode the situation and that the PA security forces managed via coordination with the Israeli army to arrest three Palestinian youths from Ramallah who were planning a “terrorist” attack.
12 apr 2016
Three detained young men, who were reported missing by their families and arrested a few days ago by the PA security forces, are exposed to physical violence and sleep deprivation, a Palestinian human rights group said.
According to Addameer Foundation for Prisoner Support and Human Rights, those young detainees and two others are also verbally abused and deprived of showering by PA interrogators.
The three abused detainees are Mohamed Harb, Haitham Sayaj, and Basel al-Araj. Two other prisoners, Mohamed al-Sallamin and Ali Dar-Asheikh, are also exposed to similar violations by PA interrogators, the foundation pointed out.
An Israeli security website revealed on Saturday that the PA security apparatuses in Ramallah were able to arrest, with the help of the Shin Bet, three young men accused of plotting a major attack against Israel.
The foundation affirmed that a PA court in Ramallah extended the detention of the three detainees and refused to allow their lawyer to meet them.
According to Addameer Foundation for Prisoner Support and Human Rights, those young detainees and two others are also verbally abused and deprived of showering by PA interrogators.
The three abused detainees are Mohamed Harb, Haitham Sayaj, and Basel al-Araj. Two other prisoners, Mohamed al-Sallamin and Ali Dar-Asheikh, are also exposed to similar violations by PA interrogators, the foundation pointed out.
An Israeli security website revealed on Saturday that the PA security apparatuses in Ramallah were able to arrest, with the help of the Shin Bet, three young men accused of plotting a major attack against Israel.
The foundation affirmed that a PA court in Ramallah extended the detention of the three detainees and refused to allow their lawyer to meet them.
10 apr 2016
Palestinian Authority (PA) forces on Saturday arrested three Palestinian youths who had been missing for 10 days, claiming to have foiled a planned anti-occupation attack, Israeli news outlets said.
PA forces had conducted intensive searches for the three since they were reported missing. The trio was found near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
Another youngster was arrested by the PA troops in the area for allegedly supplying the trio with weapons.
Israeli sources claimed the youngsters had weapons and hand grenades with them, and it is believed they were planning an anti-occupation attack.
The abduction is the by-product of ongoing security coordination between the PA forces and the Israeli occupation army. The trio was allegedly planning to carry out an anti-occupation shooting attack and take hostage of Israeli soldiers.
The youngsters were taken for interrogation in Aroura village, to the northwest of Ramallah, where they were found. Over the past few days, the Israeli occupation police notified of an imminent anti-occupation attack after the three youngsters had gone missing.
Hamas slams PA's role in arresting resistance fighters in W. Bank
The Hamas Movement has denounced the reported role of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in arresting four resistance fighters in the West Bank as "very serious and a reflection of its growing security cooperation with Israel."
In a press release on Sunday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that the PA's security collaboration with Israel is aimed at ending the Palestinian people's intifada (uprising) against the occupation. Abu Zuhri expressed his Movement's condemnation of the PA's persistence in its security cooperation with Israel and held its leadership and Fatah fully responsible for such "antinational practices."
The Israeli news website 0404 said last night that the Shin Bet in cooperation with the PA security forces was able to frustrate an operation targeting Israelis through arresting four Palestinian young men in Ramallah. The website noted that three of the young men had been reported missing by their families in early April.
The detained young men were claimed to have been found in possession of weapons and hand grenades.
PA forces had conducted intensive searches for the three since they were reported missing. The trio was found near the central West Bank city of Ramallah.
Another youngster was arrested by the PA troops in the area for allegedly supplying the trio with weapons.
Israeli sources claimed the youngsters had weapons and hand grenades with them, and it is believed they were planning an anti-occupation attack.
The abduction is the by-product of ongoing security coordination between the PA forces and the Israeli occupation army. The trio was allegedly planning to carry out an anti-occupation shooting attack and take hostage of Israeli soldiers.
The youngsters were taken for interrogation in Aroura village, to the northwest of Ramallah, where they were found. Over the past few days, the Israeli occupation police notified of an imminent anti-occupation attack after the three youngsters had gone missing.
Hamas slams PA's role in arresting resistance fighters in W. Bank
The Hamas Movement has denounced the reported role of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in arresting four resistance fighters in the West Bank as "very serious and a reflection of its growing security cooperation with Israel."
In a press release on Sunday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that the PA's security collaboration with Israel is aimed at ending the Palestinian people's intifada (uprising) against the occupation. Abu Zuhri expressed his Movement's condemnation of the PA's persistence in its security cooperation with Israel and held its leadership and Fatah fully responsible for such "antinational practices."
The Israeli news website 0404 said last night that the Shin Bet in cooperation with the PA security forces was able to frustrate an operation targeting Israelis through arresting four Palestinian young men in Ramallah. The website noted that three of the young men had been reported missing by their families in early April.
The detained young men were claimed to have been found in possession of weapons and hand grenades.
8 apr 2016
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) on Thursday evening arrested the Palestinian engineer Alaa al-Aaraj, three days after he was released from the Palestinian Authority (PA) jails.
A PIC news reporter said al-Aaraj was arrested in Azaba village, near Qalqilya, after the IOF cordoned off his family home. Al-Aaraj was released on Monday from the PA jails, where he had spent 123 days.
He had also gone on a 17-day-hunger-strike.
Alaa had previously been locked up in PA jails on several occasions. In 2009 he was held in custody by the PA Preventive Forces in Tulkarem for four months, during which he had been subjected to harsh torture.
The PA courts accused him of involvement in anti-occupation groups and armed resistance without providing proofs for the indictments. From 2010 to 2015 Alaa was prevented from pursing his academic career in engineering before he was acquitted from all the alleged indictments.
A PIC news reporter said al-Aaraj was arrested in Azaba village, near Qalqilya, after the IOF cordoned off his family home. Al-Aaraj was released on Monday from the PA jails, where he had spent 123 days.
He had also gone on a 17-day-hunger-strike.
Alaa had previously been locked up in PA jails on several occasions. In 2009 he was held in custody by the PA Preventive Forces in Tulkarem for four months, during which he had been subjected to harsh torture.
The PA courts accused him of involvement in anti-occupation groups and armed resistance without providing proofs for the indictments. From 2010 to 2015 Alaa was prevented from pursing his academic career in engineering before he was acquitted from all the alleged indictments.
4 apr 2016
Archbishop Sewerios Malki Murad, right, speaks during a graduation ceremony for Syriac Christian students in Bethlehem on July 1, 2015.
Palestinian police in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem arrested, on Saturday, the spiritual head of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Palestine and Jordan, Palestinian security sources said.
Eyewitness and follower of the Syrian Orthodox Church Shamiran Ketlo told Ma’an that she saw Palestinian police obstructing a parade celebrating Archbishop Sewerios Malki Murad’s visit to Bethlehem on the main road to the Church of the Nativity, before taking him into custody.
Murad was returning from a Syrian heritage celebration held at the Bethlehem Convention Palace in al-Khader south of Bethlehem.
Palestinian police spokesperson Luay Irzeikat said the Syrian archbishop was arrested over alleged civil charges following a decision by the general prosecution, without giving further details.
Ketlo said that followers of the Syrian Orthodox Church have appealed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to release Murad, who is based in annexed East Jerusalem’s Old City.
“Followers of the Syrian Orthodox Church have threatened to leave Palestine and seek refuge in any other country if archbishop Murad is not released,” Ketlo said. Imprisonment of a spiritual leader like Murad leaves Syrian Christians in Palestine feeling unprotected, she added.
A shrinking community of approximately 5,000 Syrian Christians resides in the occupied Palestinian territory, the descendants of Aramaic-speaking families who fled Ottoman massacres across southeastern Turkey during the 1910s.
In Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, Syriacs are a prominent part of social life. However, since Israel illegally occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, hundreds of Syrian Christians have been expelled from their homes and businesses in the city.
Palestinian police in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem arrested, on Saturday, the spiritual head of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Palestine and Jordan, Palestinian security sources said.
Eyewitness and follower of the Syrian Orthodox Church Shamiran Ketlo told Ma’an that she saw Palestinian police obstructing a parade celebrating Archbishop Sewerios Malki Murad’s visit to Bethlehem on the main road to the Church of the Nativity, before taking him into custody.
Murad was returning from a Syrian heritage celebration held at the Bethlehem Convention Palace in al-Khader south of Bethlehem.
Palestinian police spokesperson Luay Irzeikat said the Syrian archbishop was arrested over alleged civil charges following a decision by the general prosecution, without giving further details.
Ketlo said that followers of the Syrian Orthodox Church have appealed to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to release Murad, who is based in annexed East Jerusalem’s Old City.
“Followers of the Syrian Orthodox Church have threatened to leave Palestine and seek refuge in any other country if archbishop Murad is not released,” Ketlo said. Imprisonment of a spiritual leader like Murad leaves Syrian Christians in Palestine feeling unprotected, she added.
A shrinking community of approximately 5,000 Syrian Christians resides in the occupied Palestinian territory, the descendants of Aramaic-speaking families who fled Ottoman massacres across southeastern Turkey during the 1910s.
In Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, Syriacs are a prominent part of social life. However, since Israel illegally occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, hundreds of Syrian Christians have been expelled from their homes and businesses in the city.
9 mar 2016
The Arab Organization for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) conducted field research in the Occupied Palestinian Territories between January and December 2015 so as to document human rights violations committed by the Palestinian Authority's security apparatuses.
The research revealed that more than 1392 Palestinians were arrested for political reasons in various parts of the West Bank, 22 of whom were charged with carrying out anti-Israeli activities.
Another 323 were summoned for questioning before being released on the same day, Some of those arrested were summoned several times throughout the year. A recorded 273 were summoned and detained in June alone. Detainees included 25 women, 27 children, 68 journalists, 41 teachers and 422 university and school students.
The largest number of detainees, approximately 969, comprised Palestinians who had been previously freed from Israeli jails.
AOHR UK also documented 37 instances of individuals being subjected to torture whilst under arrest, including physical assaults with batons and ropes, being hung from windows and doors, being held in stress positions for hours, and near-death strangulations.
A number of detainees were held in solitary confinement for several months, prompting a number of them to go on open-ended hunger strikes to protest again the inhumane treatment and torture, and demand their immediate release.
The PA Security forces also seized personal belongings and property belonging to 76 Palestinians during the course of the arrests including ID cards, mobile phones, computers, cars, sums of money and various documents.
On fourteen occasions, the PA security forces used live bullets to intimidate Palestinians, injuring a 12-year-old child on one occasion.
At least 43 Palestinians were brutally beaten, and one was hit by a car during the course of his arrest. Security forces also held four Palestinians in custody so as to force members of their family who were sought by the security services, to hand themselves in. A man and a woman were also banned from travelling outside the West Bank.
The PA security forces often refused to comply with court orders for the release of detainees. At least 26 Palestinians remained in custody even after the court ordered their release. Another 11 Palestinians were held under “administrative detention” by the governor of their respective towns.
Only court decisions extending detainees’ remand in custody are usually routinely implemented, as was the case with verdicts sentencing four Palestinians to prison for periods ranging between 3 to 10 years. One of those Palestinians was sentenced in absentia since he is currently detained in Israel where it is expected he will be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Security forces cracked down on many peaceful protests held to oppose human rights violations by Palestinian security forces and Israeli occupation troops. At least 33 peaceful protests were disrupted and stopped in the West Bank, with officers, some dressed in plain clothes, assaulting protesters and seizing personal belongings, banners and brochures. Media outlets were often banned from covering these protests.
The research revealed that more than 1392 Palestinians were arrested for political reasons in various parts of the West Bank, 22 of whom were charged with carrying out anti-Israeli activities.
Another 323 were summoned for questioning before being released on the same day, Some of those arrested were summoned several times throughout the year. A recorded 273 were summoned and detained in June alone. Detainees included 25 women, 27 children, 68 journalists, 41 teachers and 422 university and school students.
The largest number of detainees, approximately 969, comprised Palestinians who had been previously freed from Israeli jails.
AOHR UK also documented 37 instances of individuals being subjected to torture whilst under arrest, including physical assaults with batons and ropes, being hung from windows and doors, being held in stress positions for hours, and near-death strangulations.
A number of detainees were held in solitary confinement for several months, prompting a number of them to go on open-ended hunger strikes to protest again the inhumane treatment and torture, and demand their immediate release.
The PA Security forces also seized personal belongings and property belonging to 76 Palestinians during the course of the arrests including ID cards, mobile phones, computers, cars, sums of money and various documents.
On fourteen occasions, the PA security forces used live bullets to intimidate Palestinians, injuring a 12-year-old child on one occasion.
At least 43 Palestinians were brutally beaten, and one was hit by a car during the course of his arrest. Security forces also held four Palestinians in custody so as to force members of their family who were sought by the security services, to hand themselves in. A man and a woman were also banned from travelling outside the West Bank.
The PA security forces often refused to comply with court orders for the release of detainees. At least 26 Palestinians remained in custody even after the court ordered their release. Another 11 Palestinians were held under “administrative detention” by the governor of their respective towns.
Only court decisions extending detainees’ remand in custody are usually routinely implemented, as was the case with verdicts sentencing four Palestinians to prison for periods ranging between 3 to 10 years. One of those Palestinians was sentenced in absentia since he is currently detained in Israel where it is expected he will be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Security forces cracked down on many peaceful protests held to oppose human rights violations by Palestinian security forces and Israeli occupation troops. At least 33 peaceful protests were disrupted and stopped in the West Bank, with officers, some dressed in plain clothes, assaulting protesters and seizing personal belongings, banners and brochures. Media outlets were often banned from covering these protests.
6 mar 2016
Three Palestinian political captives are going on open hunger strike in protest at arresting them illegally based on their political backgrounds in the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) jails.
The first captive is the ex-detainee Yusuf Abu Hussein from al-Khalil; he has been striking for six days.
The second captive is Samer al-Masri, undergraduate student from Ramallah. He has been on hunger strike for three days.
The third is Sharhabil Hasouna, undergraduate; he has been striking for four days. Students of the Islamic bloc of Birzeit University declared an open sit-in in front of the Student Union Council two days ago in protest against the arrest of some of their colleagues and to pressure for their release from PA’s prisons.
The first captive is the ex-detainee Yusuf Abu Hussein from al-Khalil; he has been striking for six days.
The second captive is Samer al-Masri, undergraduate student from Ramallah. He has been on hunger strike for three days.
The third is Sharhabil Hasouna, undergraduate; he has been striking for four days. Students of the Islamic bloc of Birzeit University declared an open sit-in in front of the Student Union Council two days ago in protest against the arrest of some of their colleagues and to pressure for their release from PA’s prisons.
1 mar 2016
At least nine Palestinian youths were kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) overnight Monday and early Tuesday after the latter rolled into al-Khalil province and wreaked havoc on civilian homes.
Local sources told a PIC journalist that the IOF kidnapped the ex-prisoner Mutaaz al-Ju’ba from the city. Ex-prisoner Kassem Abu Hussein was also kidnapped in the campaign, just three days after he was released from the Palestinian Authority (PA) lock-ups, where he had been subjected to harsh torture.
The IOF rummaged into Palestinian homes in al-Khalil’s northern town of Surif and kidnapped three more Palestinians. The occupation troops also kidnapped the brother of the hunger-striking detainee Mahmoud al-Fasfous after they ravaged his family home in Dura town.
Head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society in al-Khalil, Amjad al-Najjar, said the break-in and the abduction of al-Fasfous’s brother, Kayed, makes part of an Israeli attempt to dampen the hunger-striker’s spirits and foil his hunger-strike.
Earlier, on Monday evening, the PA Preventive Forces arrested the university student Ibrahim Salhab from al-Khalil university campus. The PA preventive forces in Dura also summoned the university student Muhammad Issa Abu Arkoub, enrolled at al-Khalil University, for interrogation on Wednesday.
The IOF further arrested the coordinator for the anti-settlement youth coalition, Issa Amr, from the group’s headquarters in Tel Rumeida neighborhood, in al-Khalil.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Ofer military court, in western Ramallah, extended the detention of head of the independent committee of human rights in the southern West Bank, Farid al-Atrash, to next Thursday. Farid was arrested on Friday in a rally to commemorate the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre.
Local sources told a PIC journalist that the IOF kidnapped the ex-prisoner Mutaaz al-Ju’ba from the city. Ex-prisoner Kassem Abu Hussein was also kidnapped in the campaign, just three days after he was released from the Palestinian Authority (PA) lock-ups, where he had been subjected to harsh torture.
The IOF rummaged into Palestinian homes in al-Khalil’s northern town of Surif and kidnapped three more Palestinians. The occupation troops also kidnapped the brother of the hunger-striking detainee Mahmoud al-Fasfous after they ravaged his family home in Dura town.
Head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society in al-Khalil, Amjad al-Najjar, said the break-in and the abduction of al-Fasfous’s brother, Kayed, makes part of an Israeli attempt to dampen the hunger-striker’s spirits and foil his hunger-strike.
Earlier, on Monday evening, the PA Preventive Forces arrested the university student Ibrahim Salhab from al-Khalil university campus. The PA preventive forces in Dura also summoned the university student Muhammad Issa Abu Arkoub, enrolled at al-Khalil University, for interrogation on Wednesday.
The IOF further arrested the coordinator for the anti-settlement youth coalition, Issa Amr, from the group’s headquarters in Tel Rumeida neighborhood, in al-Khalil.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Ofer military court, in western Ramallah, extended the detention of head of the independent committee of human rights in the southern West Bank, Farid al-Atrash, to next Thursday. Farid was arrested on Friday in a rally to commemorate the Ibrahimi Mosque Massacre.
25 feb 2016
The Palestinian Authority (PA) forces arrested on Wednesday evening the Civil Servants Union head, Bassem Zakarneh, after they ravaged his family home in the Central West Bank province of Ramallah.
The arrest was carried out shortly after a decision by PA forced Zakarneh into early retirement from his position as a Director-General at the Ministry of Public Works.
Over recent months reports have been released that Zakarneh, who had served as a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, has been banned from appearing on PA official mass media against the backdrop of a crisis rocking the Civil Servants Union, dissolved by Abbas one year ago.
Zakarneh had been arrested at the time and released afterwards. Sources from the Fatah movement expressed their shock over the abduction of Zakarneh, which according to them makes part of a campaign targeting Abbas opponents in the party.
Speaking in a statement posted on her Facebook page, Zakarneh's wife said her husband was arrested against the backdrop of his latest statements in which he criticized the PA's suppression of the teachers' strike.
The arrest was carried out shortly after a decision by PA forced Zakarneh into early retirement from his position as a Director-General at the Ministry of Public Works.
Over recent months reports have been released that Zakarneh, who had served as a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, has been banned from appearing on PA official mass media against the backdrop of a crisis rocking the Civil Servants Union, dissolved by Abbas one year ago.
Zakarneh had been arrested at the time and released afterwards. Sources from the Fatah movement expressed their shock over the abduction of Zakarneh, which according to them makes part of a campaign targeting Abbas opponents in the party.
Speaking in a statement posted on her Facebook page, Zakarneh's wife said her husband was arrested against the backdrop of his latest statements in which he criticized the PA's suppression of the teachers' strike.