Hamas presents documents 'revealing Fatah incitement'

Hamas leader Salah Bardawil presented four documents allegedly incriminating Fatah in a campaign of incitement against Hamas, in a TV interview broadcast Tuesday. Bardawil said Hamas possessed hundreds of documents revealing incitement by Fatah, in an hour-long program aired by the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV channel. The documents were obtained from Palestinians detained in the Gaza Strip, Bardawil said. Most of them are addressed to Majid Faraj, the head of the Palestinian Authority General Intelligence Service, he added. Some documents relate to fabricated claims of Hamas activities in Sinai, Bardawil said. The Hamas leader presented four documents accusing Hamas of smuggling weapons to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and of having weapons arsenals in Gaza. Bardawil denied the accusations and accused Fatah of "abusing" Palestinians. He added that the undersecretary of the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Gaza, Ghazi Hamad, had contacted Fatah leaders and urged them to stop defamation against Hamas, to no avail. Bardawil said further documents would be released at a news conference. The broadcast also featured people accused in the documents, all of whom denied the claims against them. Bardawil first announced that Hamas had obtained the documents at a news conference on July 30. He said the papers included instructions on creating news about Hamas killing and kidnapping Egyptian soldiers, participating in the fighting in Sinai, involvement with Salafist parties and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in the aftermath of protests that led to the ouster of President Muhammad Mursi. Faraj, the PA intelligence chief, said the accusations were "absurd and not worth responding to." He said Hamas became "hysterical” after the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world. The Egyptian media and people are not naïve enough to be manipulated by outsiders, he added.