The Hamas government decided Tuesday to ban Fatah’s 47th anniversary
celebrations in the Gaza Strip, Fatah spokesman Fayez Abu Eitah said.
The
decision to ban the celebrations was taken despite the recent rapprochement
between the two rival parties.
RELATED:PM: No negotiations if Hamas joins PA gov't Hamas and other radical groups to join PLO Abu Eitah said he was called Tuesday to
Hamas’s internal security apparatus, where police officers informed him of the
decision.
Hamas has prohibited Fatah celebrations in the Gaza Strip since
2007, when the Islamist movement seized control of the area.
Abu Eitah
said he was summoned by Hamas shortly after he gave an interview to the
Al-Jazeera network on the Fatah anniversary and efforts to end the dispute
between the two sides.
Fatah condemned the ban as a breach of the
reconciliation process with Hamas.
Fatah also called on Hamas to release
all political detainees who are being held in its prisons, and to stop harassing
political opponents.
In the past few days, Hamas security forces summoned
19 Fatah activists for interrogation, a Fatah official charged.
Nine
other activists were detained last weekend and are being subjected to various
forms of torture, the official said.
Hamas, for its part, denied that Abu
Eitah had been detained. The Hamas Ministry of Interior called on Fatah to stop
“poisoning the atmosphere of reconciliation by issuing false allegations.”