Hamas: We're using PA arms to battle IDF
Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 4, 2009
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Hamas representatives claimed on Sunday that their militiamen were fighting
against IDF troops in the Gaza Strip with weapons confiscated from the
Palestinian Authority in the summer of 2007.

They said Hamas had managed to lay its hands on all the weapons that Israel,
the US and other countries had given forces loyal to PA President Mahmoud
Abbas. Hamas had also seized dozens of armored vehicles used by Abbas's
security forces, they added.

After its men took full control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas announced
that it had seized tens of thousands of rifles and pistols, including heavy
machine guns, night-vision goggles and bulletproof vests, as well as vast
amounts of ammunition.

Sources close to Hamas also claimed that dozens of members of the rival Aksa
Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, had volunteered to fight
alongside Hamas units.

The sources added that gunmen belonging to other armed factions were also
involved in the fighting. They included members of Islamic Jihad, the
Popular Resistance Committees and the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine.

The Aksa Martyrs Brigades announced that Fatah gunmen were involved in the
fighting in several areas, including Beit Hanun, Beit Lahiya and the
outskirts of Gaza City, adding that its men had also succeeded in detonating
an explosive charge near an IDF vehicle in the center of the Gaza Strip. It
said five Fatah men had been wounded, two seriously. It did not say whether
its men were fighting together with Hamas.

Meanwhile, jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti sent his greetings on Sunday
to Hamas's militiamen and to all the gunmen involved in the fighting against
the IDF.

"Fatah and its men are an integral part of this battle and in confronting
the aggression," he said in a message from Israeli prison, where he is
serving five life terms for his involvement in armed attacks against
Israelis during the second intifada.

Barghouti urged all Palestinian factions to put aside their differences and
unite their ranks to fight against the IDF in the Gaza Strip.

"The Israeli aggression is directed against all the Palestinians and their
cause," the Fatah leader said. "This is the time to join forces in combating
the Israeli occupation."

Reports about Fatah gunmen involved in the fighting came despite allegations
that Hamas had placed dozens of Fatah activists under house arrest and
killed others out of fear that they would exploit the IDF operation to
undermine the Hamas government.