News
Fatah official claims Gaza residents want to escape Hamas
A Fatah official accused Hamas of disrupting reconstruction efforts in the Gaza Strip and said that given the chance, many Gazans would flee.
Fatah spokesman Osama Qawassmeh addressed Hamas’s Gaza leader Ismael Haniyah saying, “Do you know that more than 90 per cent of our people in the Gaza Strip want to emigrate, if given the chance, so they could escape from your regime? Do you feel any national responsibility?” According to Jerusalem Post, Qawassmeh further said that Hamas had prevented elections from taking place during the last eight years since it violently overthrew Fatah in 2007. Qawassmeh also commented that Hamas is hindering Gaza reconstruction through taxes and having “flooded the local market with Israeli products.”
Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai who heads the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli body responsible for coordinating movement at the Gaza border crossings, also highlighted Hamas’s disruption towards rebuilding Gaza. The pace of reconstruction has been slow, despite pledges of significant international aid, much of which is yet to be fulfilled.
COGAT announced earlier this month that it was easing restrictions on movement and has taken steps to encourage Gaza exports. COGAT said that more than 62,000 tons of construction supplies have entered Gaza since August and 43,000 Gazans have purchased material to rebuild their homes following the conflict.
Mordechai said yesterday that, “Israel wants to rebuild the Strip and improve the conditions of those who live there, but every action by Hamas against Israel leads to … a deterioration of the situation.” He explained that progress is being hindered as “Hamas tries to ‘eat up’ as much of the goods entering the Strip and [is] collecting large taxes intended for its terror regime.”
Last week, former Prime Minister and current Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair visited Gaza and called on more to be done to facilitate rebuilding. He asked that Israel increase its efforts but also said that Palestinian internal political differences must be resolved to smooth the process.