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Monday, May 04, 2009

Hamas turned Abbas home into Gaza prison?

From Xinhua:
Islamic Hamas movement Monday denied an Israeli report that the movement's security apparatuses turned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' house in Gaza into a place for holding Fatah activists.

A senior Hamas security source refuted the Israeli report, saying "The Israeli media always publish untrue reports to damage Hamas image and its government in Gaza. Our prisons are opened for rights groups who are always briefed on what goes on in these prisons."

"The places where the prisoners are held are well-known to Gaza human rights organizations, where their representatives had visited," said the source who declined to give his name.

Earlier in the day, Israeli Maariv daily quoted a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah as saying that Hamas security apparatuses turned the villa of the president in Remal neighborhood into a place for holding and questioning Fatah leaders.

The official told the Israeli daily on condition of anonymity that Hamas "arrested Fatah movement activists and leaders, and took them to President Abbas house in the city to interrogate them."

Hamas holds 20 Fatah leaders and activists in Abbas' house in Gaza, and Hamas hides this fact, he added.

As is usual, it is difficult to tell which set of liars is lying.

But here is a picture of Hamas militants making themselves at home in the house: