Acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Wednesday accused Israel of trying to humiliate the Palestinian people with ongoing raids on Palestinian institutions associated with the Hamas movement in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, reported dpa.
"These theatrical moves are aimed at humiliating the Palestinian people and would serve no purpose other than weaken the Palestinian Authority and its efforts to impose law and order, to revive the Palestinian economy and to provide a decent living for the Palestinian people," Fayyad said.
He was speaking at a news conference with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini in Ramallah as the Israeli army raided Nablus for a third day. An armed force raided Nablus city hall and, after detaining the guards, searched the premises and confiscated several files.
Damage was caused to the offices during the search, according to municipal sources.
The Nablus city council is dominated by the Islamic movement Hamas. Its mayor, Adli Yaish, who ran on the Hamas ticket, has been in an Israeli prison for the past two years.
The army force also raided the Islamic school in the city and searched the premises. Several mosques were also searched.
Nablus Governor Jamal Muheisen condemned the raids, saying they undermine Palestinian Authority efforts to enforce law and order in the city.
The Israeli army has raided more than a dozen Islamic institutions in the past two days in a campaign aimed at weakening Hamas.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has signed an order declaring 36 organizations operating around the world and said to be affiliated with Hamas as banned in Israel and the occupied territories under its control.
Israel says the organizations raise tens of millions of dollars in funds for Hamas a year and that the radical Islamic movement uses these funds also for its armed wing, which has carried out attacks against the Jewish State. dpa mak ok wjh bve ds