The Corner Report

U.S. official Keith Dayton oversees the U.S. financing and arming of former Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's militia in his battle to snuff out members of the democratically elected Hamas government.t

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM--The Israeli Maariv newspaper revealed Monday that US officer Keith Dayton intends to increase the number of former Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s security forces in order -- under the guise of enforcing law and order -- to eliminate the Palestinian resistance spearheaded by Hamas in the West Bank and assassinate members of the democratically-elected Hamas government.

Dayton, who is in charge of overseeing and financing the security apparatuses under the command of ex-Palestinian Authority chief and ex-president Mahmoud Abbas, will increase the PA security units from three to 10 brigades, Maariv said. Abbas's term expired in early January and yet the U.S. continues to support him in his now unelected role as president.

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It added that senior Israeli officers received favorably Dayton’s plan to enlarge Abbas’s forces.

The Israeli occupation had recently approved Abbas’s request for permission to train another brigade in Jordan, which is supposed to start its mission soon after it comes from Jordan.

The newspaper noted that Dayton faced recently a problem in the budget of training and supporting Abbas’s forces and consequently had to travel to Washington to find financial support for his project.

In the context of arrest campaigns waged in the West Bank, the PA security apparatuses kidnapped on Sunday 15 Palestinians affiliated with Hamas, stormed four mosques and also arrested three Islamic Jihad members in the cities of Al-Khalil, Tobas, Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarem.

In another related context, the Hamas Movement in the West Bank on Monday unveiled a scheme prepared by Abbas’s security apparatuses to fabricate false testimonies against the Qassam martyrs who were killed a few days ago in Qalqilia.

In a statement received by the PIC, Hamas affirmed that Abbas’s security apparatuses pressured and blackmailed a number of its cadres in Qalqilia in order to give false testimonies and erroneous information criminalizing and defaming the Palestinian resistance fighters in exchange for their release and the safety of their homes and families.

Hamas, in light of this confirmed information, warned against any attempts to spread rumors and lies intended to tarnish the Palestinian resistance fighters and martyrs’ images in the West Bank.

The Hamas lawmakers imprisoned in Israeli jails expressed regret at hearing the news of killing five Palestinian resistance fighters affiliated with the Qassam Brigades at the hands of Abbas’s security apparatuses in Qalqilia last week.

The lawmakers called on all Palestinian factions and forces to assume their national responsibilities at this delicate and crucial stage in the Palestinian arena, highlighting that the Palestinian struggle entails the protection of the resistance and its weapons against the Israeli occupation.

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en