Hamas arrests 3 Fatah officials in Gaza
Fatah leader in Gaza says Islamic movement's security service detained three officials from Abbas' faction for holding 'illegal meeting'; reconciliation talks to resume Wednesday
Hamas arrested three officials from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to Ibrahim Abu al-Naja, a Fatah leader in Gaza.
Among those held was Abdel-Rahman Hamad, a former minister in the Palestinian Authority, who had been meeting fellow Fatah members in the city of Gaza, Fatah officials said.
The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza said the Fatah men were detained for questioning after holding an "illegal factional meeting".
The arrests by the Islamic movement's security service took place ahead of the scheduled reopening of Palestinian reconciliation talks in Cairo next Wednesday.
Fatah and Hamas have been at loggerheads since the Islamists violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 from forces loyal to Abbas, splitting Palestinian society into two separately ruled entities.
Egyptian brokered reconciliation talks were suspended last week after a failure to agree on the composition and program of a unity government.
