Hamas Converts Hospitals Into Prisons

The Palestinian Health Ministry, run by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, accused Hamas' security apparatus Saturday of commandeering a number of hospital wards in the Gaza Strip for the purpose of converting them into interrogation and imprisonment compounds.

According to Palestinian news agency Ma'an, the Palestinian Health Ministry claimed that Hamas members expelled them and full medical teams from hospital wards despite the serious security situation. - Y Net News

Human rights abuses for the loss.

Man Convicted of Giving $20K To Hamas

A Pennsylvania man wanting to help Palestinian refugees was sentenced in Miami federal court for giving money to a group considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

Richard David Hupper, 33, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison Thursday for giving $20,000 to the Palestinian group Hamas. The conviction comes a year after he was convicted of identity theft and passport fraud in a Pensacola federal case.

Hupper's attorney could not be reached Friday.

Hupper's odyssey began in September 2004 in his hometown of York, Pa., where a work-related injury left him at home with little more than a television to pass the time. Hupper became absorbed with the plight of Palestinian refugees and decided to help, according to court records. He flew to Israel and connected with the International Solidarity Movement, a pro-Palestinian group that advocates nonviolent resistance against Israeli occupation of Arab territories. - Sun Sentinel

46 months? Sounds kind of pussy given the U.S's track record against terrorist related crime.

Hamas Action Fuels Feud

Tel Aviv - The worst week of internal Palestinian conflict since Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip last year ended with fresh escalation as the Islamic militants on Friday arrested senior political leaders of the secular Fatah party in the coastal enclave.

A Hamas spokesperson said the arrests were a retaliation for round-ups of its political figures in the West Bank by officers of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority.

Amid the tit-for-tat detentions, spokesmen for the rival parties stepped up their rhetorical attacks on one another, with Hamas spokespeople making open threats to repeat their Gaza takeover in the West Bank. The acrimony is complicating recent attempts by Arab mediators to convene Hamas-Fatah talks aimed at reconciling the 13-month rift.

"It will continue to escalate. Maybe they are negotiating by arresting each other before the real talks,'' says Hissam Jaberi, a Gaza-based reporter for the Al-Ayyam newspaper. "As long as we don't have a national program accepted by all the parties, we will continue to fight.'' - Christian Science Monitor

As some rapper once said, "Ye ain't right"