A few thousand Palestinians gathered in the West Bank in a lacklustrous memorial rally to mark the fourth death anniversary of Yasser Arafat
RAMALLAH: A few thousand Palestinians gathered in the West Bank on Tuesday in a lacklustrous memorial rally to mark the fourth death anniversary of their iconic leader Yasser Arafat, an occasion ignored by the Islamic faction Hamas, exposing the sharp rift within the Palestinian society.
"I would say today (that)had Yasser Arafat lived to see the coup and the divisions, he would have died (of heartbreak) anyhow,"Saeb Erekat, a close aide to the former Palestinian leader said referring to the sharp divisions in the Palestinian society where Islamic faction, Hamas, forcibly took control of the Gaza Strip vanquishing PA forces in a bloody conflict in June 2007.
Arafat's long-term deputy and his successor President Mahmoud Abbas laid a wreath atthe iconic leader's burial site in the Presidential compound where a glass and stone mausoleum was dedicated to him last year. The Palestinian Authority (PA) plans to build a museum in the compound.
"Arafat must be lamenting at the sadstate of affairs in his grave and feeling sad at how all his efforts to create a united Palestinian state has come to nothing", Souliman al-Khatib, a young activist from Arafat's Fatah party, said.
Fatah and some of the other smaller faction have blamed Hamas, the Gaza Strip's current rulers, for not allowing them to hold any major memorial rally in the coastal Strip.
"Our requests to hold a rally was ignored and we didn't get any answer," a Fatah loyalist in Gaza said on conditions of anonymity.
Hamas officials have said that they did not receive any requests.
The anniversary had last year attracted 250,000 people in a memorial rally in Gaza,also seen as a show of strength by Fatah but ended in a mayhem and loss of lives in firing by Hamas security forces.
Meanwhile, reports of skirmishes were heard during a rally organised in the West Bank city of Hebron to mark the occasion.
Several dozen Palestinian youths broke away from the memorial march and hurled rocks and bottles at Israeli soldiers.
Troops responded with tear gas and rubber-coated steel pellets which left at least four injured.
Israeli forces are also said to have apprehended five Palestinian youngsters, Palestinian media reported.
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