Abbas raises tension with Gaza Strip
Date
3/26/2018 6:00:18 AM
(MENAFN) After the attack on Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah's convoy two weeks ago, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has secretly banned officials from visiting the Gaza Strip, Quds Press reported Sunday.
Official sources told Quds Press that Abbas planed on further severing of ties with the Gaza Strip but several parties, including Egypt, asked him not to carry out his plans.
Abbas has previously taken a series of measures, including reducing electricity payments for Gaza, where two million people live, in what analysts said was an attempt to punish Hamas.
The PA is likely to stay in charge of civil services in the Gaza Strip, including the health and education sectors and Hamas would continue running the security sector, the sources added.
Reconciliation efforts are failing, Fatah officials told Quds Press, "because Fatah wanted one political system, while Hamas insisted on a functional division".
The Islamist group and Mr Abbas's secular party Fatah have been at odds since 2007 when Hamas seized control of Gaza in a near civil war.
Hamas and Fatah agreed on a reconciliation agreement in October but it has collapsed.
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