Fatah’s Dahlan gains leverage over Gaza Strip
HAMAS AND the Egyptian regime are on the verge of reaching an agreement whereby forces headed by former Fatah security chief Mohamed Dahlan will take responsibility for Gaza’s border crossings.
Despite the enmity between Mr Dahlan and Hamas, the Palestinian movement is prepared to agree to keeping the Rafah crossing open in return for Egyptian commitments and as a step towards allowing major investment in Gaza’s infrastructure.
Egypt is interested in the agreement because it supports Mr Dahlan and is interested in seeing him become the Palestinian leader in the future. It also wants to keep Hamas out of the ongoing warfare in the Sinai Peninsula with the local Isis group. Twenty three Egyptian soldiers were killed in an attack by Isis in Sinai last Friday. According to Israeli intelligence, among the attackers were four former members of Hamas.
On Sunday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was in Cairo for meetings with President Abdel Fattah elSisi and the chiefs of Egyptian military intelligence, which are deeply involved in the agreement between Hamas and Mr Dahlan. He is anxious to prevent the agreement with the Palestinian movement, which amounts to a challenge to his rule as it involves his most bitter rival within Fatah,
Mr Dahlan.
Mr Abbas is continuing to try to pressure Hamas. At his request and following the cessation of funding, Israel has so far cut the 120kw of electricity that it supplies daily to Gaza to 70kw. This has led to cuts in the supply to households in the Strip to under four hours of electricity per day. This week, following the attack in Northern Sinai, the supply of power from Egypt was cut as well.
The Palestinian Authority has also cut payments to tens of thousands of civil servants in Gaza and funding for the hospitalisation of Gazans in Israeli hospitals. In addition, the PA has cut the salaries of elected Hamas members of the Palestinian legislative council living in the West Bank.
Israel has also been ratcheting up the pressure on Hamas. On Sunday, the Coordinator of Government Affairs in the Territories, Major General Yoav Mordechai accused Hamas of stealing a third of the diesel bought in recent weeks by the Gaza electricity company — fuel that had been destined for the sole local power plant.
Meanwhile, Arab media sources have reported that the Egyptians are brokering a deal between Hamas and Israel for the exchange of the bodies of two IDF soldiers in Hamas hands, as well as three Israeli civilians currently in Gaza, in return for the release of 50 Palestinian prisoners. Israel has not confirmed or denied the reports but Israeli officials said off the record that while talks were ongoing, no agreement was near.