PNA aided Israel in arresting Hamas militants: Hamas

Gaza-ruling Hamas movement on Monday accused the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) of aiding Israel in arresting Hamas militants who had reportedly killed an Israeli policeman in the West Bank last month.

The Palestinian security services in the West Bank "are no more than a wing of the Zionist security services," Hamas spokesman Salah Al-Bardaweel said.

Israel's Shin Bet security agency on Monday said several Hamas members were arrested in Hebron city on June 14, six days after the death of the policeman in an ambush. The arrested confessed that four of them had opened fire at the policeman's vehicle.

In July, the security liaison between Israel and the PNA in the West Bank reached unprecedented levels in years with the Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin visiting the Palestinian-controlled territory and two other senior military officers paying a separate visit to attend a graduation ceremony of Palestinian forces.

The security cooperation goes high as political negotiations between the two sides remain weak. Currently, Israel and the PNA hold indirect negotiations sponsored by the United States. The PNA rejects face-to-face talks as long as Israel continued settlement expansions.

Source: Xinhua