Sur Baher, Jerusalem- Four Palestinian Authority lawmakers from Jerusalem announced their intention to officially renounce their affiliation with Hamas this week in a bid to prevent the implementation of a pending expulsion order. The Hamas Four, Muhhamad Abu Tir, Ahmad Atoun, Khaled Abu Arafa and Muhhamad Totach, disclosed their plan to bolt Hamas' Change and Reform List in the PLC three days after a closed-door meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas this past Friday. This move is widely seen as a response to an Israeli ultimatum that the four repudiate their ties with the Islamic terrorist movement or leave the country.

 

Following an international outcry, including a statement by Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, that the move may constitute a war crime, Israel promised to reconsider its expulsion order on condition that that the MPs renounce membership in Hamas and sever all ties to the terror organization.

 

Newly minted "independent" Khaled Abu Arafa told the PA affiliated Ma'an News that he and the rest of the Hamas Four are "ready, according to the instructions of our lawyers and those they have consulted, to take the needed procedural steps concerning this issue."

 

The MPs stated that they will represent their local constituencies and not the Hamas organization. "We do not represent any party, neither Hamas nor any other party in our country," Muhhamad Totach told the 5 Towns Jewish Times. "We are just representing our people and have been since being elected in 2006 and will continue to do so."

 

Totach failed to explain the significance of his fellow MPs' announcement in light of his claims that he does not currently represent Hamas. "We are not members of Hamas [and] we don't have any connection" he stressed, explaining that all members of the PLC represent their people and not any specific party. Totach conceded that Muhhamad Abu Tir had served as a leader of Hamas armed wing, the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades, but denied any current connection between his fellow MP and Hamas.

 

Speaking from Gaza, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told the 5 Towns Jewish Times that the Jerusalem MPs are representatives of the entire Palestinian population and not specifically his organization. When asked if Hamas would field candidates to run against the four in the future, Barhoum refused to comment.

 

The decision to bolt the party came too  late for Muhhamad Abu Tir, however, as he was arrested in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Armon Hanetziv on Wednesday for failure to comply with a court order requiring him to leave the city by the end of the month.

 

Maan quoted an Israel police source as saying that "Abu Tir was not part of a deal made by Palestinian Authority officials from Ramallah."

 

The East-Jerusalem representative is scheduled to go before an Israeli court, possibly as a prelude to his deportation, prompting MP Abu Arafa to call the decision to arrest his fellow MP "beyond the red line."