Abbas to visit Cairo

Published yesterday (updated) 02/04/2011 09:45 RAMALLAH (Ma'an) --

President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to go to Cairo on Wednesday in his first visit since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak in February.

Egypt's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority Yasser Othman told Ma'an the president was invited by Egypt's foreign affairs minister Nabil Al-Arabi on behalf of the country's de facto leader Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi.

Othman said Egypt supported Abbas' initiative to visit the Gaza Strip and form a unity government to prepare for elections.

The initiative seeks to end years of hostility between Abbas' Fatah party and Hamas. The rivalry has effectively cut off the Gaza Strip from the West Bank.

The Fatah-led PA controls the West Bank, while Hamas runs the government in Gaza.

A delegation of Hamas leaders visited Cairo last week, and discussed efforts toward Palestinian reconciliation.

Palestinian detainees held in Egypt to be released Sunday

Published yesterday (updated) 01/04/2011 21:28 GAZA CITY (Ma'an) --

 Egypt's Supreme Military Council says it will release 14 Palestinians from prisons on Sunday, a rights group said.

The UK-based Arab Organization for Human Rights said the council decided to release the Palestinian detainees after lobbying efforts by prisoners' relatives and lawyers.

The Egyptian courts had already agreed to release them, but there had been a delay in implementing the decision.

The human rights organization praised the decision which it said would put an end to the suffering of the detainees.

The detainees set to be released were identified as:

Muhammad Mahmud As-Sayyed / Al-Aqrab prison

Muhammad Ramadan Al-Sha’er / Al-Aqrab prison

Muhammad Abu Jarab / Al-Aqrab prison

Ahmad Yousuf Fayed Muhsen Fuju / Al-Aqrab prison

Shadi Said Al-Zamar’a / Al-Aqrab prison

Nidal Fat'hi Jouda / Tara prison

Rami Adel Khatab / Burj Al-Arab prison

Mahmoud Fayek Abdul Rahman Al-Amsi / Burj Al-Arab prison

Khaled Muhammad Ahmad Miqdad / Burj Al-Arab prison

Usama Zayed Abu 'Amra / Burj Al-Arab prison

Mahmoud Yousuf Haboub / Burj Al-Arab prison

Muhammad Saleh Hassan / Burj Al-Arab prison

Rami Dawood Jaber Al-Kafarna / Burj Al-Arab prison

Jihad Hamad Sabah Hamed / Burj Al-Arab prison

Qassam Fighter Killed In Tunnel Accident

Friday April 01, 2011 09:03 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, issued a press release stating that one of its fighters was killed on Thursday evening when a tunnel collapsed on top of him in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

The brigades identified the fighter as Hassan Mahmoud Abu Jasser, 20. He was buried under the rubble of the tunnel, and suffocated to death.

Ahmad Abu Jasser, spokesperson of the Brigades, stated that the group supports national unity among all factions and segments of the Palestinian society, adding that it reserves the right to retaliate for Israeli violations.

Abu Jasser added that unity and reconciliation between the Palestinian factions, and a truce with Israel, do not mean accepting facts on the grounds and that Hamas “will not ask for permission from anybody to retaliate against Israeli crimes”.