Ref: 42/2012
Date: 03 April 2012
Time: 12:00 GMT
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is gravely concerned over the summons issued and arrests carried out by the Preventive Security Service (PSS) and General Intelligence Service (GIS) against a number of members of Hamas in the West Bank. PCHR calls upon the government in Ramallah to stop such practices on political grounds in order to push the reconciliation process ahead.
According to investigations conducted by PCHR and testimonies of some of the summoned persons, in the past few days, a number of Hamas members in the West Bank were summoned and arrested by the PSS and GIS. The majority of these members received summons to appear before the security services, each in his area of residence. The PSS and GIS officers broke into houses of some of Hamas members and arrested them. According to testimonies of some of those summoned and arrested, they headed to the PSS and GIS offices, had been detained for several hours, in which they were questioned, and then released. Others said that they received other notices to refer to the security services.
This campaign of summons and arrests campaign has targeted at least 50 members of Hamas throughout the West Bank so far. The security services have released most of these members, while some of them have remained in custody. Among the detained members, there was a person who was brought to trial on 27 March after three days of detention. This person was arrested by the GIS while he was going out of a mosque.
PCHR condemns the continuing detention of Hamas members by the security services in the West Bank in spite of the Palestinian reconciliation atmosphere, and:
