GAZA CITY: A delegation from the Fatah movement will travel to Cairo on Sept. 22 to discuss with Egyptian officials ways to restart an inter-Palestinian dialogue, a senior Fatah official said yesterday.
Palestinian and Egyptian sources said the dialogue under Arab League auspices would start right after the Eid Al-Fitr holidays.
Zakaria Al-Agha told reporters that the Fatah delegation would be headed by Nabil Shaath. Five other top Fatah leaders would be in the team. Al-Agha, who will be part of the delegation, said the team would include the governor of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Osama Al-Fara, who is still held in a Hamas jail.
Al-Fara was detained during a crackdown after a mysterious July 25 explosion in Gaza City that killed five Hamas members and an eight-year-old girl. Hamas blamed Fatah for the blast and began rounding up Fatah men.
Fatah denied the charge and launched a retaliatory crackdown targeting Hamas men in the West Bank. Hamas said yesterday that forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrested 10 members of the movement in the West Bank. The detentions took place in Hebron, Bethlehem, Qalqilya and Nablus, Hamas said, adding that among the arrested were students and teachers.
The Palestinian crisis escalated in June last year when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip after bloody battles, while Fatah retained control of the West Bank.
Azzam Al-Ahmed, head of the Fatah bloc in the Legislative Council, Ibrahim Abu Al-Naja, member of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council, and Abdullah Abu Samhadna, the governor of Dier Al-Balah, are the other members of the delegation to Cairo.
Al-Agha expressed hope that the Egyptian mediators would try their best to bring the warring Palestinian factions together. He also called on Hamas to help ensure the success of the national dialogue.
— With input from Mohammed Mar’i
