Fatah: Qatar supporting internal Palestinian division

Member of Fatah Central Committee Azzam Al-Ahmad yesterday accused Qatar of supporting the internal Palestinian division because it paid the salaries of the civil servants in Gaza, Safa reported.

His remarks came during a celebration of the 14th anniversary of late Fatah leader Yasser Arafat held in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

Al-Ahmad called for Hamas not to politicise the truce and not to make political concessions that undermine the national project “in cooperation with Qatar which fostered the division and participated in planning for it.”

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He added: “[US President Donald] Trump put pressure on a number of Arab states in order to fund the division and Qatar stepped in through paying the salaries via Israel.”

The senior Fatah leader expressed his movement’s rejection of this.

Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas slashed 50 per cent of the salaries of the civil servants in Gaza and cut funding to the Gaza Strip which has been under an Egyptian-backed Israeli blockage since 2007.