The Palestinian Authority has dismissed some 1,000 police and security officers suspected of being affiliated with Hamas supporters or connected to the movement controlling Gaza, on the backdrop of fears that the recent clashes in the Strip would spread to the West Bank.
Ynet has learned that ever since Hamas took control of the Strip about a year ago, and more intensely in the past few months, the PA has been questioning security officers in a bid to identify those close to Hamas and prevent the movement from infiltrating the security organizations – a situation which led to the military coup in Gaza.
Following the coup, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas formed a commission of inquiry comprised of senior PA and Fatah officials to look into the events and the reasons for the defeat in Gaza.
One of the committee's conclusions was that at least one-third of the officers, commanders and security officers served as Hamas agents within these organizations.
PA sources told Ynet at the time that the real number of people who had been working with Hamas was much higher and even double than the number mentioned in the committee's conclusions.
Immediately afterwards, many of the organizations' commanders and officers were dismissed from service and lost their rights.
In the past few weeks, following the escalation in the tension between the Palestinian factions, the PA boosted its inquiries in the West Bank's security organizations.
A senior Palestinian officer told Ynet on Monday that some 1,000 functionaries were dismissed from service. He said that some were fired after being suspected of being ideologically and politically affiliated with Hamas, and the others for being related to Hamas elements.
"Anyone suspected of having stances supporting Hamas or discovered to be a relative, a brother or even a close neighbor of a Hamas activists or senior official – has been dismissed."
According to the source, the PA does not fear the threats made by Hamas.
"We are not hysterical, but we're taking these threats seriously. Thus, we are conducting background checks regarding the people serving with us, and particularly regarding the absorption of new manpower."
The source added that hundreds of activists recruited by the PA in recent weeks have undergone comprehensive inquiries, "in order to ensure that we have not missed any information for which we may pay a heavy price in the future."
The new candidates, most of them 17 or 18-year-olds, have been debriefed by the Preventive Security Service, the police and the intelligence agency and are being closely trained and monitored, "in order to ensure that in due course, they won't fall into Hamas' recruitment system," the source explained. In addition, the organizations are collecting intelligence information in the candidates.
"There is no doubt that Hamas is trying day and night to infiltrate and obtain significant access to the West Bank organizations," he said. "This is the main lesson from the events in the Strip, as far as we are concerned. We must be picky when it comes to the recruits."
The source added that people are no longer recruited due to nepotism or their acquaintance with people serving in the security organizations.
"The slightest doubt disqualifies the candidate," he said. "We understand this is a battle between life and death, and this is by the recruitment is conducted on a very professional bases. The inquiries of the three organizations are joined, and every piece of information is examined. The inquiries are extremely comprehensive."
According to the source, the inquiries are held in regards to new candidates, and are much tougher in regards to people already serving in the organizations.
The security organizations have recently launched a series of arrests of Hamas men in the West Bank, while Hamas members have threatened to stop sitting idly and to start acting.
According to the senior officer, it is unlikely that Hamas will take over the West Bank as it took control of the Gaza Strip, but the movement can cause instability through attacks or assassinations of powerful PA figures.
The detention operation launched by the PA in the West Bank began in response to the wave of arrests of Fatah men in the Strip, but the senior officer clarified that the arrests were aimed at refreshing the information in the PA regarding a Hamas attempt to form organizations in the West Bank.
"We can't say that Hamas has no inactive cells in the West Bank, but we our doing everything to prevent in advance any possibility in which these cells will turn into a much more serious and threatening organization," he said.
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