Gaza border will reopen in weeks, exiled leader says
RAMALLAH, West Bank — An exiled Palestinian politician who quietly negotiated a power-sharing deal for Gaza with former archenemy Hamas discussed the details for the first time in an interview, saying he expects it to lead to a swift opening of the blockaded territory’s border with Egypt and an easing of crippling power failures.
The Egypt-Gaza border crossing is expected to open by late August, and funding has been secured for a $100 million power plant, Mohammed Dahlan, a former Gaza security chief, said in a phone interview from the United Arab Emirates.
Dahlan said his relations with Gaza’s newly elected Hamas chief, Yehiyeh Sinwar, helped forge the once unthinkable alliance. The two grew up in the tough streets of southern Gaza’s Khan Younis refugee camp before joining rival camps, the Islamic militant Hamas and the mainstream Fatah movement.
“We both realized it’s time to find a way out” for Gaza, said Dahlan, 55, adding that both sides had learned lessons from the destructive rivalries of the past.
The deal, backed by Egypt and the UAE, is still in the early stages of implementation. There are no guarantees of success, but all involved appear to benefit.
It enables Egypt to contain Hamas, the militants on its doorstep, through new security arrangements. Dahlan has a chance to return to Palestinian politics. And cash-strapped Hamas can prolong its rule through the promised border opening.
If it goes ahead, the deal could deliver a crushing blow to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who presides over autonomous enclaves in the Israelioccupied West Bank.
Abbas has a toxic relationship with Hamas, which seized Gaza from him in 2007, and with Dahlan, a former top aide he sent packing in 2010. A Hamas-Dahlan alliance would further sideline the 82-year-old Western-backed Abbas and undercut his claim that he represents all Palestinians.
The objectives of the Dahlan-Hamas deal — ending the border blockade, reviving Gaza’s battered economy — could also weaken Palestinian statehood aspirations by creating a “mini-state” in Gaza.
For more than two decades, Palestinian leaders, including Abbas, have unsuccessfully sought to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in negotiations with Israel. Israel, which captured those territories in the 1967 Mideast war, withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but keeps a tight grip on the rest.
The territories sit on opposite sides of Israel, which has deepened the geographic separation with strict travel bans.
Dahlan dismissed concerns that his deal with Hamas will gradually turn Gaza into a separate entity.
“We are patriots, not separatists,” he said, adding that he would do everything in his power to prevent a further drifting apart of the Palestinian territories.
The millionaire with far-flung business interests in the region and close ties to leaders of Egypt and the UAE said he no longer aspires to replace Abbas.
“I have no ambitions to be president,” he said. “Maybe that was the case when I was younger, but now I see the situation.”