Asharq Alawsat: "Hamas and Islamic Jihad Fight for Control of Gaza's Mosques"

Did you know that there is "War of the Mosques" going on?

Sources in the Islamic Jihad movement have accused the deposed government in the Gaza Strip of launching a large-scale campaign to arrest a number of its members in the Gaza Strip following disagreements between the two movements after previously closed dossiers were reopened and Hamas attempted to control mosques belonging to the Islamic Jihad.

The sources said that Hamas security agencies pursued Islamic Jihad members in various areas in Gaza, particularly in Khan Yunus and Al-Shujaiyah, after the public prosecutor issued an arrest warrant against members of the Al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad's armed wing. The arrest warrant was issued in connection with an old shooting incident that was resolved at the time with approval by the then Interior Minister Said Siyam who was assassinated by Israeli forces during the recent war on the Gaza Strip. The Islamic Jihad members are also pursued because of the ongoing war to control a number of mosques . . .

This war of mosques recently extended to the West Bank, where the Islamic religious trust annexed all mosques to itself. The aim of this move is to drive Hamas away from the West Bank mosques, which it long controlled and which served as a staging point for Hamas. According to sources, the security agencies arrested every person who tried to impede the handover of mosques to the Islamic religious trust even in areas where the PA has no security control.

The whole article is worth reading.