PA security: Jenin arrests not based on political affiliation

A wave of detentions by Palestinian security forces in Jenin are not targeting any political group, the security services spokesman said Monday. Islamic Jihad said on Monday that forces from the Fatah-led PA detained five of its members in the northern West Bank. Forces have led a security crackdown in the Jenin district after assailants opened fire on the home of Jenin Governor Qaddura Musa in early May. He died of a heart attack the same night. Adnan Dhmeiri, PA security spokesman, said forces had detained just under 70 suspects linked to the shooting and another assault on the police station in Jalqamus village near Jenin. Some of those detained have since been released, he said. But the spokesman assured that all arrests were due to suspected criminal activity, rather than political affiliation. Since the 2007 split between the Hamas-run administration in the Gaza Strip and Fatah-led authority in the West Bank, both governments are accused by human rights groups of detaining political opponents.