By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Palestinian human rights groups on Thursday accused Hamas Islamists of undermining the rule of law in the Gaza Strip by seizing control of the legal system. Representatives of four organisations said Hamas-appointed judges last month took control of Gaza's civilian court compound and ordered other judges to answer to a chief justice appointed by the Islamist group. Hamas seized power in Gaza in a brief but bloody civil war in June after ousting rival forces of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, which continues to hold sway in the West Bank. Hamas appointed Abdel-Raouf al-Halabi chief justice in Gaza after the takeover, but had stopped short of enforcing his authority until the incident last month. Fatah deemed Halabi's appointment illegal and has kept on an Abbas-appointed chief justice of the Palestinian territories who is based in Ramallah. The human rights groups said Hamas judges entered the court compound and told the deputy chief justice that all judges in the territory must now answer to Halabi. "The organisations hold this government responsible for undermining and destroying the judicial authority," said Raji al-Surani, director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. It was some of the strongest criticism of Hamas inside the Gaza Strip since the group's June takeover. The other judges and staff left the court compound and have since been on strike. A Gaza-based Fatah judge and Surani said the highest judicial council in the Palestinian territories, which answers to Abbas, had since suspended the civilian court system in Gaza. "This will lead to a vacuum and will cause the collapse of the civil judiciary which will give way to the law of the jungle," he told a news conference in Gaza. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Hamas was reacting to a previous order by Fatah to policemen and judges loyal to Abbas not to cooperate with Gaza's Hamas rulers. He accused the rights bodies of siding with Fatah. The four groups said they had failed to persuade senior Hamas officials to back down over the courts issue but that they would continue trying. (Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Ori Lewis)
