By Xinhua,
Ramallah : A senior member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) on Thursday lashed out at Gaza ruler Hamas, saying the Islamic movement was not interested in relieving the people in the Gaza Strip.
“Hamas has no problem with the continuation of the siege on the Palestinian people, what they need is an international and Arab recognition of their coup and regime as a de facto thing,” said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee.
Abed Rabbo said if Hamas gets recognition of its regime in Gaza, the division with the West Bank “will be widened.”
Hamas controls the Gaza Strip since June 2007 after it ousted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement and took the rein of Gaza in a week of deadly infighting.
An Egyptian-brokered between Israel and Hamas took hold in Gaza Strip a week ago, which is designated to lift the economic sanctions that Israel imposed on the territory following the Hamas takeover.
The ceasefire involves the reopening of the commercial crossing points of Gaza in its early phases, while the Rafah passageway bordering Egypt’s Sinai peninsular will be postponed to final stages of the six-month agreement.
Abed Rabbo, however, accused Hamas of blocking the Egyptian efforts to reopen Rafah crossing “because it wants a share from the tax and customs revenues at the crossing.”
Rafah crossing, the only Gaza passage to the outside world that bypasses Israel, has been closed since 2006.