[Asharq al-Aswat] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, on Wednesday accused the Paleostinian Authority of "treason" over its arrest of members of the Islamist group in connection with the killing of Jewish settlers.Hamas front man Fawzi Barhum called the arrests "national treason and direct collaboration with the (Israeli) enemy" and warned the Western-backed authority not to hand the men over to Israel.
"The continuation of this criminal campaign crosses all red lines and is direct collaboration with the enemy in the light of day," Barhum said.
"It will only increase Hamas's determination to continue the resistance and intensify our painful strikes on the Zionist enemy."
A Paleostinian Authority official said security forces had jugged Hamas members from separate cells linked to two drive-by shooting attacks last week that killed four Israeli settlers and maimed two others.
The official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, would not specify the number of people jugged.
The first shooting on August 31 killed four settlers, including a pregnant woman, and the second a day later maimed two settlers near Ramallah.
Hamas grabbed credit for both attacks, which cast a pall over the relaunch in Washington of direct Israeli-Paleostinian peace talks.