Hamas supporters in the West Bank said on Thursday they fear a crackdown by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's forces after Hamas prevented Abbas's Fatah party members from traveling out from the Gaza Strip.

The pro-Abbas forces have threatened to arrest senior leaders from the Islamic movement if Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, kept banning the Gaza-based Fatah officials from traveling to the West Bank to attend their movement's sixth general conference, said Omar Abdul Razek, a former Hamas minister in the West Bank.

"Some people from the Palestinian Authority directly threatened all Hamas leaders, including lawmakers, of arrest in response to Hamas's procedures in Gaza," Abdul Razek told Xinhua.

Around 400 Gaza-based Fatah members were supposed to have been in the holy city of Bethlehem to prepare for holding Fatah's first congress in 20 years, due on August 4.

Hamas forces have prevented Fatah officials from traveling, saying they can go to the West Bank only when pro-Abbas forces free hundreds of Hamas supporters held in the West Bank.

"The threats haven't excluded anyone, and included messages addressed to Hamas's leadership in Gaza and Damascus," Abdul Razek added.

Hamas and Fatah have been exchanging crackdown against their political opponents since the Islamic movement routed Abbas's forces and took over Gaza in 2007.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2009)