Abbas vows to implement findings on Gaza takeover

Abbas received the report from Tayeb Abdel Rahim, secretary-general of the Palestinian Presidency, who headed the committee. He promised to carefully implement all the report's recommendations.

Abbas' advisor, committee member Nabil Amro, held a special press conference at the Muqataa in Ramallah and said that the Palestinian Authority was determined to establish a modern security system which would be different from the current one, which "operated like feudal estates controlled by a number of masters."

He also admitted that Hamas members infiltrated the Palestinian security forces, and did not forget to accuse Israel.

Hamas army in Gaza (Photo: AFP)

According to initial details from the report released Thursday, the committee pointed the finger of blame mostly at senior Fatah officials in the Strip, saying that responsibility for the defeat lay with position holders with access to the Palestinian security organizations, headed by Palestinian security chief Mohammad Dahlan, who resigned on Thursday.  

Amro said during the press conference that "the PA leadership will implement every letter in the report."

According to him, PA officials were working to get rid of the habit of establishing commissions of inquiry whose conclusions disappeared.

"From the beginning the PA was determined to investigate the events, and this was manifested in the establishment of the serious committee, whose job was not just to find out who was responsible for the coup, but also to draw serious conclusions in order to implement a real reform in the Palestinian security organizations," he said.

'Israel destroyed security forces' infrastructure'

According to Amro, "It is more important to learn from the experience of what happened than to look for those responsible. The aim is also to find out who neglected their jobs and judge them severely."

Amro said that the first person to appear before the committee was Palestinian President Abbas, who testifies and showed that no one was immune. According to Amro, Abbas' policy through the entire events was aimed at preventing a Palestinian civil war.

Amro said that a national commission of inquiry must be established to probe Hamas' conduct, its crimes and executions.

According to him, the committee's report focused on the conduct of the PA, its organizations and the Fatah movement in the Strip, and Abbas had already begun taking a series of steps against officers in the official organizations. Many of the officers were dismissed or demoted based on the findings.

"One of the immediate conclusions from the events in the Strip is not to recruit security officers according to the political affiliation and stop recruiting unprofessional security officers," he added.

He did not forget to blame Israel, saying that part of the recruitment of unprofessional officers derived from the fact that Israel destroyed a large part of the Palestinian security organizations' infrastructure.

Roee Nahmias contributed to the report