By Xinhua,
Gaza : A leader of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement on Wednesday slammed ceasefire which Egypt brokered between Israel and rival Hamas movement in Gaza Strip.
“We supported the lull in order to overcome the siege on our people,” said Zakareya al-Agha, Fatah representative in Gaza. Nearly a month and half passed since the ceasefire took effect, but”no essential change has occurred on the life of the people.”
“This lull must be re-evaluated and a Palestinian stance must be taken in this regard,” al-Agha said.
The ceasefire was meant to restore calmness in the volatile Gaza and to ease the economic sanctions which Israel imposed on the coastal territory last year when Hamas ousted Fatah and took over the enclave.
Al-Agha said that the ceasefire only succeeded to calm down the situation, but he said that the calmness “was utilized to achieve other things,” referring to the crackdown that Hamas launched against Fatah people in Gaza since last month.
Meanwhile, al-Agha said that Hamas did not respond to president Abbas’ call for inter-Palestinian dialogue “and it used to question the motives behind the call for talks.”
Abbas made his appeal in June in a bid to end political split between the West Bank, which is controlled by his forces, and the Gaza Strip where Hamas government, which he fired, still rules.
Since the long-dominant Fatah lost Gaza, it consolidated its power in the West Bank as Hamas tightened its grip in the Gaza Strip.