Abu Marzouk said in comments broadcast on Al-Risala Wednesday that the issue has not been raised in negotiations "because the Qassam Brigades can not be removed from the equation of confrontation with the occupation."
There had been rumors that Fatah was asking that the Qassam Brigades be dismantled or subsumed in the PA security forces.
Echoing Hezbollah's logic in keeping a separate militia while participating in the Lebanese government, Abu Marzouk insisted that the Qassam Brigades were the only professional security forces with the ability to protect Palestinian Arabs from Israel.