The security services of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank are launching a widespread campaign of arrests targeting activists in the "Democratic Reform Movement" of the dismissed leader of the "Fatah" movement, Muhammad Dahlan, who is residing in the UAE.

Al-Jazeera Net learned from responsible sources that the arrests campaign affected members of the movement's revolutionary council, former security officials, and university professors.

A security source revealed to Al-Jazeera Net that the detainees are facing two main charges related to possession of weapons and transferring "illegal" funds to the West Bank.

Beyond the arrests


, among the most prominent of the detainees are Haytham al-Halabi, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, Major General Salim Abu Safiya, who held high security positions during the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1993, Dr. Firas al-Halabi, university lecturer Abdul Karim Obaid, in addition to a number of academics and activists in the movement Students and families are editors.

According to sources in the Abu Safiya family, large forces from the security services stormed his house in the city of Jericho in the West Bank, "wreaked havoc on it" and arrested him for 7 days, before the court decided today to release him on a bail of 1500 Jordanian dinars, equivalent to (2115) Dollars).

The court extended the detention of Haitham Al-Halabi and his nephew Amid for 15 days pending investigations.

A leading source in the Fatah movement told Al-Jazeera Net - preferring to remain anonymous - that the arrests were "outraged" by the authority over Dahlan's role in the Emirati-Israeli agreement, and upon direct instructions from President Mahmoud Abbas.

However, the spokesman for the security forces in the West Bank, Major General Adnan Al-Damiri, denied that the arrests were on a political basis, and told Al-Jazeera Net that "the security services arrested 4 or 5 people only on the basis of legal violations."

Regarding the concentration of arrests against leaders and activists known for their affiliation with the "Dahlan Movement", Al-Dameiri clarified that the authority does not recognize currents or groups, and the law is applied to individuals, based on legal violations.

Statements by US Ambassador to Tel Aviv David Friedman angered Palestinians (Getty Images)

Friedman's statements


The arrests campaign coincided with statements by the US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, in which he told "Israel Today" newspaper that the US administration is considering replacing President Abbas with Dahlan, before the newspaper itself amends it later.

The Fatah source said that these statements increased the anger of President Abbas and the team close to him towards the Emirates, and the role he described as "pivotal" that Dahlan played in the agreement with Israel.

For his part, the spokesman for the "Democratic Reform Movement", Dmitry Deliani, told Al-Jazeera Net that Dahlan preceded Abbas and his team in rejecting the statements of the American ambassador, and he was clear in his rejection of normalization with an official statement issued by the capital, Abu Dhabi.

Deliani rejected the accusations directed at the detainees, stressing that all of them "have no relationship or connection with money, or the current financing methods in the West Bank."

He explained that there is a "separate structure" specialized in money and financing, and the method of channeling money to the West Bank is done in complete secrecy, and leaders in the movement know nothing about them.

To protect it from the "oppression" of power.

Deliani said that the arrests are political, and they are carried out by the "Joint Security Committee", which is composed of all agencies. The Military Intelligence Service has been tasked with arresting officers in the security services, while the Preventive Security Agency is in charge of arresting civilians, and this campaign has affected dozens of members of the Fatah movement, and a number of them are still He holds positions in the organizational structure of the movement.

He added, "Abbas and the group of beneficiaries surrounding him fear the strength of the current, which today has become a majority within Fatah, whether in the Palestinian interior or in Egypt and Lebanon, and nothing remains in Abbas’s structure except for the class of beneficiaries from his presence at the head of the Authority."

He added that this team fears the election fund, and is aware that the movement has followers and supporters even inside the president's office.

However, they are afraid to disclose their views for various reasons, the most important of which is "financial punishment." Or they may face the fate of Haitham al-Halabi, whom Abbas dismissed from his position as governor in the presidency after disclosing his political positions.

Dahlan’s popularity


However, Hani al-Masri, head of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research, Masarat, based in Ramallah, ruled out that the authority is obsessed with fear of Dahlan and his return with an American plan, and he believes that the Emirati-Israeli agreement harmed Dahlan and did not benefit him, especially on the popular level.

He explained to Al-Jazeera Net that opinion polls indicate that Dahlan's popularity is low and does not qualify him to inherit President Abbas, the latest of which is an opinion poll conducted by the "Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research" in the West Bank, which showed that he received only 7% in the event that presidential elections were held today, and he did not run. President Abbas.

According to Al-Masry, Dahlan cannot - no matter if he enjoys external support - to bypass figures with weight and influence in the Palestinian political system, in the race to succeed President Abbas.