Fatah says members being arrested by Hamas in Gaza
GAZA, July 29 (Reuters) - A senior official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement accused Hamas on Sunday of a sweeping campaign to detain members of the group in the Gaza Strip.
"They have been searching for Fatah men," said the official, Ibrahim Abu An-Naja, alleging Hamas has been carrying out nightly raids on homes since defeating Fatah forces in the territory in a brief civil war last month.
He told a news conference that because the raids were still going on, he could not give an exact figure for the number of men he said were detained by Hamas.
"It is an attempt to eliminate (Fatah) -- but how can a 50-year-old movement like Fatah be eliminated," Abu An-Najah said.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Abu An-Naja's comments were "full of false accusations and lies".
He said Fatah complaints of an arrest campaign were aimed at covering up its own detention of Hamas members in the West Bank, where Abbas's movement holds sway.
Abu Zuhri said hundreds of Hamas men were "in the jails of the Palestinian security services in the West Bank", including one of its leading figures in the territory, Ahmed Doula.
Doula, he said, was rearrested on Thursday, shortly after he was released from a detention centre run by Abbas's presidential guards.
Abu Zuhri said those arrested by Hamas in Gaza were "collaborators (with Israel), drug dealers and violators of public order".
[and]
Hamas left behind as Palestinians in Egypt head home
by Mohammed Yusri
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) - Around 100 of the thousands of Palestinians stranded in Egypt crossed into Israel on their way to Gaza on Sunday, but many left behind said they were barred for their political beliefs.
Egypt and Israel on Saturday agreed that 627 of the 6,000 stranded Palestinians, who have been living in increasingly dire conditions, would be allowed back to the Gaza Strip, with 100 crossing on Sunday and 527 on Monday.
Palestinians had been asked to register in Cairo for a seat on the convoy and the first 627 names on the register were selected to leave, a security source said.
But many said they were not allowed to register because they were supporters of the Islamist Hamas.
"I went to the Palestinian embassy in Cairo to register my name, but they refused because I belong to Hamas," one man told AFP, declining to give his name.
Others said that the process was made easier for supporters of president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, while Hamas members were not even being allowed to register.
The 100 were taken by bus to the Al-Oja/Nizana cargo crossing south of the Rafah border terminal between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, which has been closed since Hamas's violent takeover of the territory in mid-June.
From there they will be taken through Israel to the Erez terminal in the northern Gaza Strip.
Some 6,000 Palestinians are estimated to be living in and around Rafah, often lacking food, medical care and basic amenities, since the border terminal closed more than 45 days ago. More than 10 people have since died there.
A security source told AFP that Israel and Egypt were negotiating to arrange for the remaining registered Palestinians to go home.
Some, like Amal Jamil who is stranded in El-Arish, say they could not afford the trip to Cairo. Jamil said she has not been able to register.
There was no indication as to what would happen to those who have not registered.
The Rafah terminal -- Gaza's only door to the outside world that bypasses Israel -- has been shut since deadly Palestinian infighting saw Hamas seize the Gaza Strip on June 15.
When open, Rafah is operated in close cooperation by Egypt, European Union monitors, Israel and the Palestinians, and can be closed if any one party refuses to participate.
Hamas, which does not recognise Israel, has objected to the Jewish state being able to control who is allowed to travel from Egypt into Gaza.
Pertinent Links:
1) Fatah says members being arrested by Hamas in Gaza
2) Hamas left behind as Palestinians in Egypt head home
Sunday, July 29, 2007
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