PA: Islamic Jihad plans to ruin truce

Islamic Jihad in the West Bank is planning to carry out an attack on Israel to ruin the cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority security officials said on Monday

The officials told The Jerusalem Post that two senior members of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, Fadi Kitani and Ala Abu al-Rub, have refused to surrender to the PA security forces in the West Bank despite repeated attempts to persuade them to stop their activities.

Kitani, who lives in Tulkarm, is a top member of the Al-Quds Battalion, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, which is responsible for a series of attacks on Israel over the past few years.

The PA's Preventative Security Service tried several times to arrest him, but to no avail. Over the weekend, Kitani's wife was detained for several hours by Palestinian security agents who questioned her about her husband's activities.

The detention of the wife is seen as an attempt to put pressure on Kitani to hand himself over to the PSS.

According to the PA security officials, Kitani is suspected of heading an Islamic Jihad cell that is planning to carry out attacks on Israel to "sabotage" the cease-fire agreement.

They pointed out that Islamic Jihad leaders had voiced reservations about the Egyptian-brokered agreement, although they also promised to abide by it in the Gaza Strip.

The other Islamic Jihad operative being pursued by the PA security forces is Abu al-Rub of Kabatiya, near Jenin, who is the commander of the Al-Quds Battalions in the northern West Bank.

Two weeks ago, the PA security forces almost succeeded in capturing him after surrounding the house where he was hiding in Kabatiya. But Abu al-Rub managed to escape after firing shots into the air.

At least five Islamic Jihad members have been arrested by the PA security forces in the past two months on suspicion of planning to launch attacks on Israel, the officials said.