Special to WorldTribune.com

GAZA CITY — Hamas has approved the deployment of 3,000 Palestinian Authority troops in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas said 3,000 PA police officers would arrive in the Gaza Strip as part of a reconciliation agreement with the Fatah movement.

In a statement, Hamas said it would coordinate with the PA for the deployment of the officers.

“Hamas and the Gaza government have made a strategic decision to move on with reconciliation, and so they will do what is needed to implement the agreement,” Hamas Cabinet secretary-general Abdul Salam Siyam said.

In a statement on May 4, Siyam said a leading Fatah official, Azzam Ahmed, would arrive in the Gaza Strip to discuss implementation of the reconciliation agreement, reached on April 23. The statement did not say when Ahmed, deemed close to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, would visit.

For his part, Abbas was said to be planning to fly to Qatar to meet Hamas Executive Council chairman Khaled Masha’al. Masha’al has been regarded as a supporter of reconciliation with Fatah.

Officials said the 3,000 officers fled the Gaza Strip during the Hamas
takeover in 2007. They said most of them were absorbed into PA security
units in the West Bank.

Neither Hamas nor Fatah had cited plans to deploy the PA troops
as part of the latest reconciliation deal. Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip
with more than 20,000 police and security officers.

“Izzedin Kassam [Hamas’ military wing] will remain a national resistance
force, and this is not up for discussion,” Hamas deputy chief Mussa Abu
Marzouk said.

  Abdul Salam Siyam, Hamas allows Palestinian Authority police in Gaza, Izzedin Kassam, Khaled Masha’al, Mahmoud Abbas