Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
Photo: AFP
Report: Israel allows Fatah men return to West Bank
Nazareth-based newspaper reports Jewish state to let Fatah members enter West Bank for movement's special conference
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has received permission from Israel to allow Fatah officials living abroad to enter the Palestinian Territories for the organization's sixth conference that is scheduled to be held in Ramallah, Nazareth-based al-Sinnara newspaper reported on Friday.
According to the report, officials who asked to remain in the territories after the conference will also be allowed to do so.
The agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is similar to the one reached with Yasser Arafat during the National Council meeting in Gaza in 1996, when Israel allowed the entrance of many wanted Palestinian officials.
"Abbas notified the organizing committee that in this matter it was agreed that they would receive the same treatment as in the matter of the Palestinian council members' participation in Gaza," Fatah member Amin Maqbool told al-Sinnara.
The conference's organizing committee met on Wednesday in Amman, but a final date for the conference has not yet been set. Maqbool denied Abbas pressured the committee to hold the event before next February.
"Abu Mazen (Abbas) and the rest of the members understand very well the political and organizational need to hold the conference and are aware that the main problem facing the conference is the inability to ensure the participation of members in the Gaza Strip," Maqbool explained.
In the meantime, it is unclear how the members living in Gaza will arrive at the conference, since there is no guarantee that Hamas will allow them to leave the Strip through Erez or Rafah crossing.
In the past, Hamas has prevented Fatah members from leaving the Strip.
"We cannot have the conference without ensuring their participation," Maqbool said, explaining that as part of the conference Fatah's former West Bank Secretary-General Marwan Barghouti and other Fatah prisoners will be allowed to compete for leadership roles.
