Dahlan calls for Abbas to visit Gaza and announce unity government

Palestinians gather in Gaza City to listen to a speech by dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan

Palestinians gather in Gaza City to listen to a speech by dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan on 20 November 2018 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

The leader of the political trend calling for the reformation of Fatah, Mohammed Dahlan, called on Tuesday for Palestinian Authority and PLO President Mahmoud Abbas to visit Gaza and announce a unity government, Safa news agency has reported. Abbas is also the head of the Fatah movement.

“Those who think they would undermine the deal of the century with words should turn their words into actions,” Dahlan told an event in Gaza to commemorate the 14th anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death. Speaking via video link, he added, “I am calling for Abbas to visit Gaza and announce a national unity government.”

He pointed out that the programme should have taken place last week, but was postponed due to Israel’s aggression against the besieged territory. “Gaza and its residents rejected Israeli treachery and increased the response to the Israeli attack. All praise to the defenders of dignity in Gaza.”

Israel recognises that Gaza’s barriers are much stronger than those of the Muqata’a, the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, Dahlan said, adding that if Arafat were alive today he would be on the front lines with his rifle and kuffiyeh.

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The former Fatah official told his supporters that the gathering in Gaza proved that the reform trend is on the “right path which aims to regain Fatah from its hijackers through a real national partnership with the other Palestinian factions based on a defensive programme.”

In closing, Dahlan, who was dismissed from Fatah by Abbas, said that he would continue supporting the popular resistance as a “successful” model which has the fewest human losses.

Palestinians gather in Gaza City to listen to a speech by dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan on 20 November 2018 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

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