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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,,2203855,00.html
Fatah Targets Mosques in Anti-Hamas Campaign in West Bank
[Guardian-UK] Rory McCarthy - The Fatah-led West Bank government has mounted a crackdown on preachers from the rival Hamas movement, arresting or sacking clerics accused of spreading political dissent. In Nablus, a major Hamas center of power, police have arrested Sheikh Maher Kharas, a prominent and radical Hamas cleric, and replaced several other clerics who are either members of Hamas or close to the movement. The crackdown follows a wave of arrests of Hamas politicians and the closure of several Hamas-linked charities across the West Bank. It comes at the same time as a new U.S.-backed Fatah security plan for Nablus. "This campaign is just one of many steps they are taking to reduce the popularity of Hamas," said Kholood al-Masri, a Hamas member and the acting deputy mayor of Nablus. "There is a real war against Hamas in the West Bank," she said.