GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Nahru al-Haddad did not expect to be arrested for political reasons in January. The Fatah leader in the Gaza Strip told Al-Monitor how Gaza's internal security apparatus subjected him and other Fatah leaders to insulting treatment during their detention. Almost two months after this incident, shock is still written all over his face as a result of the poor treatment.

Haddad, 58, a Fatah secretary in eastern Gaza City, told Al-Monitor, “I have been summoned by the security apparatus dozens of times since its establishment during the days of former Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in mid-2007, which is when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. I was summoned because of my affiliation with Fatah and the movement’s activities in Gaza, but I was never held for more than a few hours.

“On Dec. 31, 2014, during the ceremony of lighting the flame to celebrate Fatah’s anniversary, an internal security official called me and warned me about holding the event under the pretext that it was not licensed. On the same day, the event took place since [we] had received a license from the Gaza government and the security apparatus.

“A march for unity was supposed to take place in Gaza the next day, but I got a call from the internal security apparatus telling me that this activity would lead to bloodshed and that I was the person responsible. After negotiating with the movement’s command, the march was canceled.”