Hamas: Abbas visit to Gaza? No chance
Senior Hamas man al-Zahar said Palestinian president will not be visiting
Strip
Ali Waked YNET Published: 07.25.09, 19:29 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3751923,00.html

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not be visiting the Gaza Strip,
Hamas' Foreign Minister Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar said Saturday.

"An Abbas visit to Gaza is something we reject out of hand," the senior
Hamas man said. "Given the current security situation, it's unclear how we
can receive Abbas. It is unclear how this would affect the relatives of
those killed by his men, as well as those whose homes were destroyed in
Operation Cast Lead…under the current circumstances, I cannot see a scenario
whereby he will arrive in Gaza."

Meanwhile, al-Zahar again stressed that the Gaza government will not allow
Fatah members to leave the Strip and travel to the Fatah convention
scheduled for next week in Bethlehem.

"Fatah needs to pay a price for its convention to succeed, and the price
needs to be the release of Hamas prisoners," he said. "We said that if they
adopt this gesture, we will adopt our own gesture, but it's impossible for
them to continue arresting people and robbing them of their liberty,
torturing them, and killing them, while in exchange expecting us to allow
convention participants to travel from the Strip to the West Bank."

Fatah officials made it clear that Hamas' decision to prevent Fatah members
from traveling to the convention will have grave implications of the success
prospects of the intra-Palestinian dialogue, as well as for ties between the
sides. Some Fatah members have urged the movement to postpone the upcoming
convention, scheduled for August 4, should Hamas prevent Gaza
representatives from attending.