Hamas agrees to allow Fatah forces to patrol Rafah crossing

[bemildred]

The London-based Asharq al-Awsat reported Saturday that Hamas has suggested representatives of the Palestinian Authority be stationed at the Rafah crossing, but that they be residents of Gaza, not the West Bank.

Also on Saturday, Hamas officials laid out some of their conditions for a continuation of the Gaza truce and for the release of captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.

A Hamas delegation comprising representatives from Gaza and Damascus traveled to Cairo is to meet with Egyptian officials on Sunday. One Hamas official reiterated the group's demand that Shalit be freed as part of a larger prisoner exchange, and that his release not be tied to the issue of opening Gaza's border crossings.

Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha told Asharq Al-Awsat that his group wants European Union and Turkish troops to patrol Gaza's border crossings with Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1058242.html

[ohio2007]

1. Just in time for a St Valentines day mob hit massacre

but it most likely will be avoided...as long as Fatah remembers who the top dog in Gaza is

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. This give the PA their first open foothold back in Gaza

Given the position of Egypt, more will come.

[azurnoir]

4. You mean Fatah right?

The following political parties, listed in alphabetic order, have taken part in recent elections inside the Palestinian National Authority:

* Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (al-jabhah al-dīmūqrātiyyah li-tahrīr filastīn) (socialist)
* Fatah or Palestinian Liberation Movement (harakat al-tahrīr al-filastīnī) (centre-left)
* Hamas or Islamic Resistance Movement (harakat al-muqāwamah al-islāmiyyah) (Islamist)
* Palestine Democratic Union (al-ittihād al-dīmūqrātī al-filastīnī, FiDA) (centre-left)
* Palestine Forum launched 16 November 2007 by billionaire businessman Munib al-Masri, 73
* Palestinian National Initiative (al-mubādara al-wataniya al-filastīniyya) (centrist)
* Palestinian People's Party (hizb al-sha`b al-filastīnī) (left-wing)
* Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (al-jabhah al-sha`biyyah li-tahrīr filastīn) (communist)
* Al-Mustaqbal or The Future
* Third Way (centrist)
* Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (left-wing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_Palestinian_National_Authority

* wondering how long before someone edits this page too as if editing wiki edits the truth but not to worry there are uneditable sources of this same info too. like this one for instance

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/List_of_political_parties_in_the_Palestinian_National_Authority

[oberliner]

5. And then in June 2007, Hamas split from the PA and named their own separate government

consisting only of members of Hamas.

[azurnoir]

6. Makes no difference Hamas is still part of the PA or PNA

BTW please take note my edit

edited to add that this is in part the reason the PA elections are being held up the fear that Hamas would win hands down and as of right now that may well be true

[oberliner]

7. Please note this recent statement from the Hamas leadership

Earlier, Sami Khater, a member of the Damascus-based Hamas political leadership-in-exile, said Arab and international donations to aid Gaza should go directly to Hamas and be distributed through an independent Arab body that must supervise reconstruction.

"Frankly, the funds shouldn't go to the Palestinian Authority because, according to previous experience, this authority cannot be trusted," Khater told the AP.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gYt6wQL_8RkV1oJCL51J2T-G0ZagD95SF8E01

[Vegasaurus]

8. Hamas has been stealing the aid and supplies after the war

and trying to sell them.

Where are the billions and billions and billions of dollars that have been given to the Palestinians over the years?

Trashed, along with the greenhouses, or stolen, by corruption that is rampant throughout the PA and Hamas.

Or used to purchase weapons.

But the people?

No one seems to care about the people, since the aid never gets to them.

[azurnoir]

10. Really a translation of what some guy in Damascus says

is the absolute truth? OK every other spot on the lies I understand so just why are the PA elections being held up?

[oberliner]

11. Hamas open to coordination with PA in Gaza reconstruction

Gaza – Ma’an – Hamas’ de facto government in the Gaza Strip said it would welcome help from the rival Fatah-led government in Ramallah in the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.

The minister of Housing and Public Works in the Gaza government, Yousef Al-Mansi, said during a press conference on Wednesday said his government would not mind coordinating with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, but that the de facto government would supervise the reconstruction effort.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&Do=&ID=35158

[azurnoir]

12. Proving what ?

you again site a translation can you find anything that explains why the PA elections are being held up or that states definatively that Hamas is no longer part of the PA and there for can not run in said elections?

here's another link that says differently

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/country-profiles/middle-east-north-africa/palestine-national-authority

edited to add

what is the title of the thread we're posting on?

Hamas agrees to allow Fatah forces to patrol Rafah crossing

doesn't say that Hamas is allowing the PA it says Fatah

[oberliner]

13. The site you linked to says Abbas is President and Fayyad is Prime Minister

Hamas does not recognize the authority of either of these people. Hamas' rule in Gaza is not subject to the authority of those persons. In fact, Hamas has its own Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh. Clearly there are two different governing entities at this point - the PA (whose jurisdiction is the West Bank) and Hamas (whose jurisdiction is Gaza).

Also, I don't understand your objection to my posting articles in English. Am I supposed to post articles in Arabic? The first statement was made directly to an AP reporter and the second link was to an article posted on a Palestinian news source. I'm not sure why you have cause to question the veracity of either.

[azurnoir]

14. Yes it does have Abbas and Fayyad listed it also has

Hamas listed as a party in the PA which anyone who clicks the link can see.

[oberliner]

16. They are a political party

They just aren't part of the Palestinian Authority at this point.

If they were - they wouldn't have a separate Prime Minister and President from Abbas and Fayyad.

[azurnoir]

17. They each claim

ascendancy but they're still under the same umbrella, if they were not there would not be any concern about the outcome of a PA election right now.

edited because I think I need a new keyboard certain letters miss, call it kid with dripping popsicle incident

[oberliner]

20. Well, no need to keep going round in circles

All I can tell you is that it certainly appears that at least in some sources, the term "Palestinian Authority" is used to refer to the Abbas government, while the Hamas government in Gaza is identified as being separate from that entity.

I guess at some point it's just semantics.

[azurnoir]

21. Exactly oh and politics too n/t

[Igel]

9. Problem, of course.

If they're Gaza residents, it means their families are in Gaza, and ultimately they're answerable to the forces that would be seeking out "collaborators" in Gaza and the authorities in Gaza. It also means that they've gone through a few bouts of having Hamas look them over and make sure they know who's boss.

If they're residents of the West Bank, then they're answerable primarily to Fatah in the West Bank. They may be at personal risk if they run afoul of Hamas, but it would be a bit harder for their families and clans to be easily subjected to pressure.

[azurnoir]

3. Interesting

hopefully this works, wonder if Israel will take them up on the border crossings offer?

[bemildred]

15. Don't know, but it's movement, of sorts.

Which indicates that Hamas in not completely stupid.

I think we are going to see a stall until after the election, but too lazy to provide a rational argument for that. I did notice that Barak is going to come to touch base with Uncle Sugar, and that he is talking to Gates, not Clinton, not Obama. So far anyway.

[azurnoir]

18. Eventually someones going to have to talk to Mitchell

and thats what worries them I think

BTW confessing ignorance who is Uncle Sugar?

[bemildred]

19. "Uncle Sugar" == "United States", in our generous mode.

Yes, Mitchell has plenipotentiary powers, that means he speaks for the USA. President Obama is a professor of Constitutional law, he knows what he did there.

[Scurrilous]

22. EU officials ready to return to Rafah

<snip>

"In the hope that it will soon be able to return to its former monitoring role at the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the European Union Border Assistance Mission (EUBAM) plans to send 22 new staff people to its Ashkelon headquarters.

Four new staff members arrived in Ashkelon on Saturday and 30 more are on standby, according to EUBAM spokeswoman Maria Telleria.

"We are eager to get back to the crossing," she told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday evening.

From November 2005 and until the Hamas coup of Gaza in June 2007, EUBAM monitored the passage of people from Gaza into Egypt at the Rafah crossing.

After the coup, however, it suspended its operation at the crossing, but left a skeleton crew of 18 people in Ashkelon, which at times dropped down to 12 or 13 people.

In the interim, the head of the mission Lt.-Gen. Pietro Pistolese left and was replaced by Col. Alain Faugeras of France in November.

With negotiations ongoing to reinstitute the 2005 agreement on movement and access which placed the Palestinian Authority on the Gaza side of the crossing, EUBAM wants to be prepared to return, said Telleria.

But it could only happen if there was a return to that 2005 agreement, she said."

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