Dozens of protesters joined on Sunday evening a rally staged by the Islamic Jihad Movement in Gaza city in protests at the crackdowns by the Palestinian Authority (PA) forces against anti-occupation activists in the West Bank.
The rally-goers strongly condemned the attack by the PA forces on the father of the slain Palestinian anti-occupation youth Basil al-A’raj in the central West Bank province of Ramallah.
The protesters urged the PA to immediately cease all forms of security coordination and prosecute those who were responsible for the “heinous attacks” on the families of slain activists and prisoners who took to the street in protest at the trial of slain Basil al-A’raj and his jailed fellows.
Islamic Jihad spokesman Daud Shehab said the PA attack on the Ramallah peaceful demonstration is a “preplanned crime.”
“The PA forces dragged our women and daughters and aggressively beat al-A’raj’s father human rights activists Farid al-Atrash and Islamic Jihad leader Khader Adnan among dozens of other protesters” noted Shehab.
He added that a PA officer told al-A’raj father after subjecting him to heavy beating that he would undergo the same fate as his son who was fatally gunned down by the Israeli army.
“This is a tacit acknowledgement of the fact that the PA forces were the ones who collaborated with the Israeli soldiers’ to detect Basil al-A’raj’s location” Shehab further stated. “Al-A’raj’s father was attacked by the PA forces as he spoke up for national unity and called for healing the rift in the face of the Israeli occupation.”
Speaking at the rally Hamas leader Ismail Redwan slammed the PA aggressions on the Palestinian protesters and the trial of al-A’raj and his peers.
“This is a crime that stands in sharp in contrast to our Palestinian Arab and Islamic ethics” said Redwan calling for prosecuting the attackers and those who instructed orders to quell the peaceful demonstrators.
The Hamas leader further urged the PA to halt security coordination with the Israeli occupation and stand by the Palestinians rather than the Israelis.
