ABBAS VOWS TO MAINTAIN ORDER AFTER FATAH OFFICIAL STABBED

Photo: Ma’an News Agency

Ramallah, 4 Jumadil Awwal 1436/23 February 2015 (MINA)– Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas Saturday evening said that the Palestinian Authority would not allow the outbreak of “chaos” in the Palestinian territory, a day after a senior Fatah official was stabbed by unknown assailants.

“Some people are trying to create chaos but we will not allow anybody to undermine the security and stability of citizens,” Abbas was quoted as saying by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

“Any individual who took part in this criminal attack will be subject to punishment by law.”, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

Abbas’ comments came during a phone call with Fatah official Munir al-Jaghoub, who was stabbed several times by unidentified assailants after Friday prayer outside a mosque in the northern West Bank town of Beita near Nablus.

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Nablus police on Saturday arrested suspects believed to be involved in the stabbing attack.

It was not immediately clear the if the attack was the result of rivalries within Fatah or whether it was part of a dispute between parties.

Al-Jaghoub, who serves as the public information officer of Fatah’s recruitment and organization commission, has been adamant that the attack was politically motivated.

“The attempt to murder me is a reproduction in the West Bank of the bloody coup and the state of chaos in the Gaza Strip in 2007,” al-Jaghoub said Saturday while speaking to local radio station Mawtiny.

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He was referring to the Hamas-Fatah conflict of that year that killed more than a hundred and led to the political split between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Fatah in the West Bank. At that time, Hamas launched attacks on Fatah after accusing the group’s leaders of trying to carry out a coup against its rule only a year after it won legislative elections.

Al-Jaghoub completely ruled out the possibility of family dispute as a motive for the attack.

“Those who stabbed me dozens of times are affiliated to the same groups who have been inciting against Fatah in media and electronic websites for months trying to disfigure the movement’s image and its national heritage.”

He confirmed that he filed a complaint against the attackers, “whom he had revealed.”

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He also noted similarities with the killings of Fatah officials Samih al-Madhoun and Abu al-Majd Gharib, who were killed during the 2007 conflict. Al-Madhoun was a senior leader of the Fatah’s military wing, the al-Aqsa Brigades, who was killed in Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza.

Al-Jaghoub was taken to Rafidia hospital in Nablus where he underwent surgery.

Medics said he was in a stable condition following the operation. (T/P010/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)

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