Palestinian security forces stormed into a pro-Hamas West Bank village on Tuesday, sparking violent clashes as they pressed on with an arrest campaign against the Islamist movement. Witnesses said at least one person was shot and wounded and another arrested when forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas raided the village of Silwad, the family home of exiled Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal, at dawn. The local mayor is a member of Hamas and the village is considered a stronghold of the Islamist movement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. A Palestinian security official said forces targeted a band of car thieves and arrested an individual “wanted by the law” but denied there was any political motivation behind the operation. The past few days have seen parallel crackdowns by Hamas-run forces in the Gaza Strip, who have detained some 300 members of Abbas's Fatah party, and police in the West Bank, who have arrested scores of Hamas members. The two main Palestinian factions have been bitterly divided since Hamas drove Abbas's forces from Gaza in a wave of bloody street battles in June 2007. The conflict was reignited on Friday night when an explosion outside a Gaza City beachside cafe killed five senior Hamas militants and a little girl. Hamas blamed its Fatah rivals for the blast, while Fatah said it was carried out by rogue elements within the Islamist movement. The security forces in both territories have adamantly denied arresting anyone for political reasons while angrily accusing their rivals of doing so. Meanwhile, the Reporters Without Borders has condemned the arrest of a cameraman working for German television in the Gaza Strip and called on Hamas to release him. The Paris-based media freedom group says masked men linked with Hamas took Palestinian cameraman Sawah Abu Seif from his home on July 25. He had been working for Germany's ARD television channel. Reporters Without Borders says Hamas claimed Seif is a Fatah supporter. In a statement Tuesday, the group called the arrest “arbitrary and unjustified” and said the battle between Hamas and the rival Fatah faction has had “dire consequences” for the Palestinian press. It called on Hamas to order its supporters to allow journalists to work freely. It also called for Seif's immediate release.
