Barhoum: West Bank arrests prove Abbas not sincere in dialog

GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas's spokesman in Gaza Strip Fawzi Barhoum asserted Saturday that the continued arrest campaigns against Hamas's supporters in the West Bank prove that calls of Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas for national dialogue were deceptive. In a statement he issued in this regard, Barhoum pointed out that his Movement was monitoring the arrests in the West Bank with deep concern because they come at a time Palestinian and Arab efforts intensify to achieve national reconciliation. According to Barhoum, the arrests of Hamas's sympathizers got wilder in the aftermath of the precious victory of the Palestinian resistance over the "Zionist entity" in Gaza, charging that more than 22000 political arrests were recorded since Hamas took over Gaza Strip on June, 2006. "We view these arrest campaigns as a programmed method to exterminate Hamas and marginalize it in the West Bank at the hand of PA security forces under the unconstitutional government in Ramallah that discloses Abbas's misleading and deceptive calls for national talks", underlined Barhoum. He underscored that any Palestinian national dialog must be based on mutual respect, genuine partnership, and end of political arrests once and for all, and should not be based on sidelining the others. Abbas's legitimacy: Meanwhile, tens of US-based Palestinian and Arab intellectuals called for not recognizing the PA in Ramallah or any of its symbols, including Mahmoud Abbas, whose term had expired last month, being an illegitimate institution. According to the intellectuals, the Ramallah authority was not content with arresting and disarming Palestinian resistance fighters in the West Bank, but it also backed the Israeli invasion of Gaza Strip by criminalizing the Palestinian resistance which is sanctioned under international law for all peoples under occupation. They also stressed that the "monstrous Israeli war on Gaza" proved that coexistence with the "Zionist entity" is impossible, adding that the futile PA-Israeli negotiation brought no good to the Palestinian people since it kicked off more than ten years ago. In this regard, the intellectuals stressed that all those involved in the war on Gaza and those who conspired against the Palestinian people must be held accountable and put on trial, calling on the Palestinian resistance factions not to abandon national constants and aspirations of the Palestinian people, including the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their homeland. http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.