New Fateh led force in West Bank

In a sign of increasing tensions between political leaders of Hamas and Fateh, 2,500 Al Aqsa fighters were reorganized into a new Fateh security force in the West Bank city of Jenin on saturday. The new force took to the streets wearing black shirts carrying a picture of Yasser Arafat and chanting slogans from the first intifada. In the city of Jenin the fighters were showered with candy by two local residents, before Atta Abu Rumeileh gave a speech in which he warned of attempts by Hamas to undermine Fateh. This activation of a security force in Jenin comes just 18 days after Hamas created it's security force in Gaza. No security force has ever been created parallel to the Palestine National Security force in the West Bank however, and it's role here is a matter of some confusion. Atta Abu Rumeileh, the head of the new Security force in Jenin, explains:

This force will not be a substitute for the police, or any other system of the legal Palestinian National Authority. 
The security systems alone do their tasks, and yesterday as we positioned this force we didn't perform any formal tasks on the street at all. We didn't stop cars or arrest any people. We are a force intended to assist the authority legal system whenever we are called for duty by the general commander of the Palestinian forces in Jenin or the police commander General. We will be soldiers who follow the orders of the police commander. We started talks with President Mahmoud Abbas to enlist this force within the Palestinian police system.

Since the creation of the force on saturday, the west bank has already seen a parallel Fateh force created in Tulkarem. I asked Atta Abu Rumeileh if he thought this trend might lead to violence in the West Bank of the kind already experienced in Gaza.

We will not allow anyone to extend the crisis in Gaza Strip to the West Bank. We will prevent any organization, Hamas, Fateh which we are members of, or any other organization from causing trouble or crisis on the Palestinian street, the street cannot bear any more trouble. This force is not an alternative to the authority. This authority is the peoples' authority and we do respect it, and respect its legitimate institutions, and we are in communication with local leaders of Fateh in the West Bank to enable dispatching this force wherever there are attempts to make troubles or create illegal forces in the West Bank. Whenever they want to talk, they have to talk in one language and not claim that the force in Gaza is legal, and this force in Jenin is illegal. We are a force that does not claim to be legal, but will be legal as we become part of the Palestinian police. We are a force to assist the law, order, and the national project of independence, and national unity.

While both Hamas and Israel have expressed alarm at the creation of these forces, neither has released any public statements indicating that there will be any retaliation. Still, what role these forces will come to play both in palestinian politics and day to day life is a matter of some concern. Grisan Andoni, Director of Bir Zeit University public relations office and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize nominee shares his opinion on the new force, and contextualized these developments within the larger history of palestinian political oppositions.

From the west bank city of jenin, I'm seth porcello with the IMEMC.org in palestine.