GAZA CITY: Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank on Thursday held rallies to mark the 13th anniversary of the death of revered former leader Yasser Arafat.
This year’s events came as rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas seek to carry out a landmark reconciliation deal signed last month that aims to end their 10-year rift.
Arafat, who died on Nov. 11, 2004 at a hospital near Paris from unknown causes at the age of 75, remains a towering figure among Palestinians.
Former senior Fatah party official Mohammed Dahlan, who lives in exile in the UAE, organized a rally in Gaza.
A few thousand Dahlan supporters raised pictures of Arafat and Palestinian flags, while on the stage there were large portraits of Arafat and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas who was assassinated by Israel in 2004.
Dahlan was not in attendance but a speech was delivered on his behalf.
He was once one of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s top officials in Gaza but fell out with him and was later kicked out of his Fatah party. Since then he has become closer to rivals Hamas, the movement that has run Gaza since 2007.
Year of reconciliation
In a separate event in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday, dozens of Palestinians gathered to commemorate Arafat’s death.
“We really wanted to come this year because this is the year for reconciliation between here and Gaza,” said rally participant Sanaa Al-Rifai.
“We hope this reconciliation will be a good start and the soul of the martyr (Arafat) will be more at peace when he sees the Palestinian people more united.”
Arafat rose to become the leader of the Palestinian movement after the creation of Israel, leading an armed struggle in which thousands died.
Decades later he disavowed violence and famously shook hands with Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin on the White House lawn, although the peace the Oslo accords were supposed to bring never materialized.
The Palestinians have long accused Israel of poisoning him, charges the Israeli government firmly denies. His body was exhumed in 2012 for tests but a subsequent French investigation found no proof of poisoning.
Last month, Hamas signed an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation agreement with Fatah that is supposed to see the Palestinian Authority reclaim control of the Gaza Strip by Dec. 1.
Hamas handed over the borders to Fatah on November 1 in a first key test of the agreement but there have been signs of tensions in recent days over security control of the Gaza Strip.
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Palestinians mark 13 years since Arafat’s death
Palestinians mark 13 years since Arafat’s death
Syria Kurds impose curfew in Qamishli ahead of govt forces entry
QAMISHLI: Kurdish forces imposed a curfew on Kurdish-majority Qamishli in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, ahead of the deployment of government troops to the city, an AFP team reported.
The curfew came after Syrian security personnel entered the mixed Kurdish-Arab city of Hasakah and the countryside around the Kurdish town of Kobani on Monday, as part of a comprehensive agreement to gradually integrate the Kurds’ military and civilian institutions into the state.
The Kurds had ceded territory to advancing government forces in recent weeks.
An AFP correspondent saw Kurdish security forces deployed in Qamishli and found the streets empty of civilians and shops closed after the curfew came into effect early on Tuesday.
It will remain in force until 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday.
The government convoy is expected to enter the city later on Tuesday and will include a limited number of forces and vehicles, according to Marwan Al-Ali, the Damascus-appointed head of internal security in Hasakah province.
The integration of Kurdish security forces into the interior ministry’s ranks will follow, he added.
Friday’s deal “seeks to unify Syrian territory,” including Kurdish areas, while also maintaining an ongoing ceasefire and introducing the “gradual integration” of Kurdish forces and administrative institutions, according to the text of the agreement.
It was a blow to the Kurds, who had sought to preserve the de facto autonomy they exercised after seizing vast areas of north and northeast Syria in battles against Daesh during the civil war, backed by a US-led coalition.
Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had previously said the deal would be implemented on the ground from Monday, with both sides to pull forces back from frontline positions in parts of the northeast, and from Kobani in the north.
He added that a “limited internal security force” would enter parts of Hasakah and Qamishli, but that “no military forces will enter any Kurdish city or town.”
The curfew came after Syrian security personnel entered the mixed Kurdish-Arab city of Hasakah and the countryside around the Kurdish town of Kobani on Monday, as part of a comprehensive agreement to gradually integrate the Kurds’ military and civilian institutions into the state.
The Kurds had ceded territory to advancing government forces in recent weeks.
An AFP correspondent saw Kurdish security forces deployed in Qamishli and found the streets empty of civilians and shops closed after the curfew came into effect early on Tuesday.
It will remain in force until 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday.
The government convoy is expected to enter the city later on Tuesday and will include a limited number of forces and vehicles, according to Marwan Al-Ali, the Damascus-appointed head of internal security in Hasakah province.
The integration of Kurdish security forces into the interior ministry’s ranks will follow, he added.
Friday’s deal “seeks to unify Syrian territory,” including Kurdish areas, while also maintaining an ongoing ceasefire and introducing the “gradual integration” of Kurdish forces and administrative institutions, according to the text of the agreement.
It was a blow to the Kurds, who had sought to preserve the de facto autonomy they exercised after seizing vast areas of north and northeast Syria in battles against Daesh during the civil war, backed by a US-led coalition.
Mazloum Abdi, head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had previously said the deal would be implemented on the ground from Monday, with both sides to pull forces back from frontline positions in parts of the northeast, and from Kobani in the north.
He added that a “limited internal security force” would enter parts of Hasakah and Qamishli, but that “no military forces will enter any Kurdish city or town.”
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