Abbas vows to maintain order after Fatah official stabbed
Published yesterday (updated) 23/02/2015 13:17
http://www.maannews.com/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=759546

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on 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."

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.

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.

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."

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.
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