Breakaway Fatah group denies ties to Hamas

A senior member of a breakaway group from Palestinian faction Fatah saidTuesday that no deals had been cut between expelled Fatah leader Mohamed Dahlan and rival faction Hamas.

“There are no agreements between Mohamed Dahlan’s breakaway Fatah group and Hamas,” senior Fatah member Majed Abu Shamala, who is close to Dahlan, told The Anadolu Agency.

“If there were, we wouldn’t shy away from announcing them to the media,” he said

The seeming rapprochement between Hamas and Dahlan’s group stems from the social burdens imposed by the plight of the Gaza Strip’s roughly 1.8 million Palestinians, Abu Shamala said.

“The National Islamic Committee for Social Solidarity seeks to provide assistance to those affected by the recent war on Gaza,” he asserted.

Abu Shamala added: “We are setting our differences and political objectives aside to focus on the plight of the Palestinian people, which requires the committee to be cooperative, despite bringing together two factions whose differences had brought them to blows.”

He was referring to events in 2007, when Hamas wrested control of the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to Dahlan and Fatah.

Established one year ago, the National Islamic Committee for Social Solidarity is composed of representatives of top Palestinian factions, including Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The committee has already paid out compensation to Palestinians wounded during Israel’s recent military onslaught on Gaza, with the gravely injured receiving $1,500 each, the moderately injured $700 each, and the lightly injured $500 each, Abu Shamala said.

Another program has been set up for the families of Gazans killed during the onslaught, which will see each family receiving $5,000.

Despite their longtime affiliation through the Fatah movement, Dahlan fell out with Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas in recent years, prompting the latter to officially expel him from the movement in 2011.

Dahlan, who is now a vocal critic of Abbas, is currently based in the United Arab Emirates.

Tensions flared again recently between the two men when the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission – established by Abbas in 2010 – referred Dahlan to court in absentia to face charges of corruption and illicit gains.