So this is pretty amusing and fascinaitng. Fatah delegates have used trickery and disguises in order to slip past Hamas guards at a border checkpoint in Gaza so they can attend the upcoming Fatah convention in the West Bank. One donned a traditional Muslim veil and robe then hitched a ride on a donkey cart.
Ghaliya Abu Sitte, 63, a Fatah delegate from the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, said she left home early Friday, put on the traditional Muslim veil and long robe, took a taxi and got out a few hundred yards before the Hamas checkpoint.
"I saw a donkey cart with two women who were collecting grass and wood, she said in an interview later Friday at a West Bank hotel. I got on the cart. I thought to myself, 'They won't notice me if I ride it.' I passed the Hamas checkpoint. They didn't stop me or ask me."
More disguises.....
Jadallah said others posed as medical patients on their way to treatment in Israel, including a woman delegate who got in a wheelchair and was pushed by three fellow Fatah activists.
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Hamas government spokesman Taher Nunu said Fatah activists had been warned against trying to sneak out. Anyone who defies these rules will face unpleasant procedures, he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/...
Unpleasant procedures! That's a euphemism for something ain't it...starts with a "t".....
But not all have been as successful in getting out of Gaza.
Hamas militants in Gaza arrested a senior member of Fatah's revolutionary council along with another 20 members of the Palestinian faction, a Web site affiliated with Fatah reported on Saturday.
http://www.haaretz.com/...
But as I noted yesterday, it's pretty ironic that Hamas won't let Palestinians out of Gaza.
Israel on the other hand has readily facilitated access to the convention by Fatah delegates.
However, Israel has granted permits to nearly all the Fatah delegates from Gaza, in a gesture of support for Abbas. Israel has also permitted scores of Fatah delegates from the diaspora to enter the West Bank, said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
"It is really shameful that the big question mark is about delegates coming from Gaza," he said.
So whatever whatever, Fatah says the convention will go on. They are considering upping the number of congress participants to make up for the absence of most of the Gazan delegation.
Wazir said the Central Committee decided to raise the number of congress participants from 1,550 to 2,256, to accommodate more marginal Fatah members. The faction's decision-making Revolutionary Council convenes on Sunday to discuss the measure.
Boosting the turnout could compensate for the absence of Gaza delegates, one Fatah official said.
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Fatah's last congress -- the fifth in the movement's 44-year history -- was held in 1989 in Tunisia.
http://www.alertnet.org/...
moon