Hamas took two busloads of journalists on a tour of the Gaza Strip. Stops included, among others, Gaza’s Saraya prison, a Roman Catholic church, and the Rafah border crossing. We recommend AP coverage by Steve Gutkin.
The same day, Hamas moved against several pro-Fatah daily papers. The Jerusalem Post‘s Khaled Abu Toameh writes:
Palestinian journalists said thousands of copies from the three newspapers were seized by Hamas’s paramilitary Executive Force on the Palestinian side of the Erez border crossing. The newspapers were taken aboard a truck to a Hamas security installation nearby in the town of Beit Hanan.
According to the journalists, six Palestinians working for the newspapers were detained by Hamas for questioning….
Islam Shahwan, spokesman for the Executive Force, announced that the move was aimed at sending a warning to the newspapers to stop inciting against his force and Hamas.
This isn’t the first time Hamas has applied the good cop/bad cop routine to P.R.
