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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Bombing of wedding believed Hamas warning to Fatah's Dahlan

GAZA CITY Ñ A leading Palestinian clan aligned to the Fatah movement has been targeted in the Gaza Strip.   

On July 21, a bomb exploded at a wedding conducted by the clan headed by former Fatah security chief Mohammed Dahlan. Palestinian sources said at least 60 people, many of them former Palestinian Authority security officers, were injured in the blast in the Gaza town of Khan Yunis.

"This was an attack directed against Dahlan and meant to warn him," a Palestinian source said.

The sources said the Hamas regime has determined that Dahlan was the leading Fatah opponent of reconciliation with the Islamic opposition, Middle East Newsline reported. They said Dahlan has been advising Egypt on how to pressure Hamas in the Gaza Strip.


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Until July 2007, Dahlan was regarded as the de facto PA security chief in the Gaza Strip. At one point, Dahlan commanded nearly 70,000 Fatah and PA forces, routed by Hamas in its takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Dahlan left the Gaza Strip days before the Hamas takeover. After more than a year abroad, he settled in the West Bank city of Ramallah and became the leading adviser to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

The bombing on July 21 took place as Dahlan's nephew, Mahmoud, stepped on the podium to get married. Mahmoud, regarded as a senior Fatah security operative, was said to have been injured in the blast.

Hamas has launched a crackdown on clans aligned with Fatah. On July 14, Hamas forces raided a wedding held by the Al Madhoun clan in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. Four revelers were shot and injured after a portrait of Samih Al Madhoun, a Fatah commander killed in the Hamas takeover, was hoisted during the wedding.

No organization has claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Dahlan wedding. The Hamas Interior Ministry said three suspects in the bombing have been arrested.

But Fatah has blamed Hamas for the blast. The sources said Dahlan relatives received phone calls 15 minutes before the blast to leave the wedding.



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