Fatah Activists Escape Gaza By Donning Islamic Garb

Associate Press

Fatah says 57 of its activists have sneaked out of Hamas-ruled Gaza in recent days to reach the West Bank for a key party convention.

One Fatah delegate says she put on Islamic dress and rode past a Hamas checkpoint on a donkey cart on Friday.

The Islamic militant Hamas and the Western-backed Fatah are bitter rivals.

Hamas has said it will not allow Fatah's 450 convention delegates to leave Gaza unless Fatah's leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, first releases 900 Hamas detainees held in the West Bank.

The Fatah convention begins Tuesday - the first such gathering in 20 years.

Gaza delegate Ghaliya Abu Sitte says she put on an Islamic veil, flagged down a donkey cart, got on and rode past unsuspecting Hamas border guards near Gaza's crossing into Israel.

The two dominant Palestinian groups accuse each other of carrying out political arrests that have crippled Egyptian efforts to broker a deal to restore political unity and boost prospects for a resumption of peace-making with Israel.

"It is doubtful that this dialogue can succeed and it is doubtful that parties including Hamas would attend the coming round of dialogue in Cairo if we don't close the file on political arrests," Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a Friday sermon at a mosque in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip by the Egyptian border.

"We are not naive and we won't accept that dialogue takes place while arrests continue," Haniyeh said.

The next round of reconciliation talks is scheduled for Aug. 25 in Cairo. Egyptian mediators hope to get Hamas and Fatah to agree to some form of power-sharing ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections in January.

Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 after routing Fatah forces. Fatah is now dominant only in the West Bank. Haniyeh said his group would also boycott the January elections if the issue of political arrests remained unresolved

Comments

[Abd-ul-Latif]

Donning "Islamic" garb...in fact, doing anything remotely Islamic (or even apparently so): must have been a totally new experience for Fatah members.

[Abd-ul-Latif]

The irony of the headline seems completely lost on the non-Muslims.

[davidwayneosedach]

Doesn't sound all that difficult to 'escape.'

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
This article leaves out the counterpoint -- that Hamas members are routinely arrested and attacked on the West Bank.

[courtb]

You mean the part where it says: "Hamas has said it will not allow Fatah's 450 convention delegates to leave Gaza unless Fatah's leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, first releases 900 Hamas detainees held in the West Bank" and then "The two dominant Palestinian groups accuse each other of carrying out political arrests that have crippled Egyptian efforts to broker a deal to restore political unity and boost prospects for a resumption of peace-making with Israel." Plus the soundbites from Hamas leaders?

Do you even read the articles, Alpha, before you post your "observations"?

[JerryLevy]

Palestinians secretly sneaking out of an oppressive Palestinian country. Fancy that.

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
They were taking a gamble, considering the IDF is likely to shoot on sight any Palestinian wearing Muslim attire.

[phute]

Do enlighten us as to what an oppressive Palestinian country is.
I thought you lot are always pushing the notion that there is no Palestine?
Oh dear - what would Golda think?

[MarcusT]

"Palestinian country" There is no such thing.

[yankees]

How is suppose to be peace with Israel if they can't even get it together.

[fbr79]

But Hamas leads the democratically elected government of the Palestinia­ns....or something.

[lightningbolt]

The only solution that will work to end this conflict is a three-state solution with Hamas ruling Gaza and Fatah or the PA ruling the West Bank. If we wait until they reconcile, peace will never happen.

[whoa20]

Personally, I'm for a three state. Egypt gets back Gaza, Jordan gets the West Bank. But I think in the end, Gaza and the West Bank will not be in the same country. The idea that they must is the bane of the peace process.

[lightningbolt]

The problem is that Egypt and Jordan don't want those territories.

[phute]

The bane of the peace process - how convenient.