[Jerusalem Post] Khaled Abu Toameh - PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was forced to call off plans to deploy several hundred PA security personnel in the northern Gaza Strip in an attempt to stop the firing of rockets at Israel, when several armed groups, including militias from his own Fatah movement, threatened to attack these forces, PA officials said Monday. One PA official said that while Hamas had accepted Abbas' proposal to halt rocket attacks, Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, and the Islamic Jihad rejected the cease-fire proposal. According to the official, Abbas and the rest of the Fatah leadership have almost no control over the various Fatah militias operating in Gaza. "Fatah has at least seven or eight armed groups in the Gaza Strip and some of them are receiving financial aid from Hizballah, Syria, and Iran," he said.
2006-08-22 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive