Last update - 00:00 18/06/2007
Egypt coordinating West Bank passage for 340 Gaza refugees
By The Associated Press
Egypt is trying to arrange passage to the West Bank for some 340 Palestinian security officials from the moderate Fatah group who fled the Hamas takeover in Gaza, Palestinian and Egyptian security officials said Monday.
The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been closed since Hamas took it over last week, and dozens of civilians were stranded on the Egyptian side.
A Palestinian security official in the West Bank town of Ramallah confirmed the procedure to repatriate Fatah loyalists had begun. He said the Palestinian officials are to get temporary Egyptian travel documents, then fly to Jordan before heading to the West Bank.
An Egyptian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the Fatah personnel - including 13 wounded being treated in an Egyptian military hospital - would return soon to the Palestinian territories.
Palestinians are still trying to work out arrangements with Jordan, but expect the people to start traveling in the next two days, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media.
Samir Mashharawi, a Fatah security official, said there were about 400 Fatah loyalists including women and civilians now on Egypt's side of the border, but denied all would head back to the West Bank.
"There's no decision regarding these people's destination after they leave Egypt," said Mashharawi. "Each one of them has his own destination," he said, adding that Palestinians were working with Egypt to deliver travel documents to these people.
Fatah members fled Gaza when the Preventive Security Service's headquarters were taken by militants from the radical Hamas group late last Thursday.
Egypt's state-run news agency, MENA, reported that scores of Palestinian civilians had continued to flee to Egypt from Gaza over the weekend.
Earlier Monday, Hamas officials said that more than 100 Fatah members who fled to Egypt last week were to return to Gaza later Monday.
The men, members of the Fatah-affiliated security forces routed by Hamas in five days of fighting last week, fled to Egypt through the Rafah crossing after their defeat.
Egyptian authorities would not let them leave the crossing, however, and the men have been stranded for days on the Egyptian side of the terminal, the Hamas officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of the Fatah members' return with the media. There was no immediate confirmation from Egypt.
Fifteen of the Fatah men re-entered Gaza on Sunday, having coordinated their return with Hamas forces, and the rest were to return Monday, according to the officials.
The victorious Hamas forces killed several of their Fatah rivals after completing their takeover of Gaza, including one commander who was stripped, beaten and then shot on a crowded street and another who was thrown off a roof.
On Friday, with the chaotic coastal strip firmly under their control, Hamas declared a general amnesty for Fatah men.