BBC Monitoring

 Text of report by Palestinian Ma'an News Agency website

    Ma'an, 2 June: The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades General Command, the military wing of Fatah, said that the statement issued by a group identifying itself as the Islamic Swords of Truth [Suyuf al-Haq al-Islamiyah], constitutes an open threat against media institutions that should not be placed in the middle of the confrontation.

    In a communique, a copy of which reached Ma'an, the Al-Aqsa Brigades say that "the content of the statement issued by the Islamic Swords of Truth is slanderous, and we stress that the group will not evade responsibility for any harm to the Palestine terrestrial and satellite television or any of its employees." The Al-Aqsa Brigades condemned this behaviour, considering it harmful to Palestinian unity, and stressed that it will protect the media if the relevant security bodies fail to do so. The Al-Aqsa Brigades communique further reads: "The insane statements this group has issued recently will only weaken it. Threatening journalists is an extremely dangerous act, and this group should denounce it and apologize for it, as it harms the blood of the martyrs and their noble Palestinian struggle."

    Source: Ma'an News Agency website, Bethlehem, in Arabic 1511 gmt 2 Jun 07