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ABBAS TO CHAIR FATAH MEETING AMID GROWING TENSIONS WITH U.S., HAMAS

The PA also fears that recent US, Israeli and international efforts to improve the living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are aimed at driving a wedge between the Palestinians and establishing a separate Palestinian state in the coastal enclave.

In a speech on behalf of Abbas, PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah again condemned Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to the city.

He also condemned as “extortion” the US administration’s threat to cut funding to the PA over payments made to Palestinian security prisoners and their families, as well as the relatives of Palestinian “martyrs.”

According to PA officials, Abbas was unhappy with the efforts made by United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov to promote humanitarian and economic projects in the Gaza Strip.

The officials told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that Abbas recently “rebuked” Mladenov for being “in harmony with American schemes.”

Abbas and other PA officials fear that Washington and other international parties are trying to bypass the PA leadership in Ramallah by operating directly in the Gaza Strip. They also fear that the US, Israel and other parties are seeking to use the UN as a cover for promoting economic and humanitarian projects in the Gaza Strip.

Bahr urged the PA to lift the sanctions it imposed on the Gaza Strip last year, which include among other things, the firing of thousands of civil servants and halting social welfare assistance to hundreds of Palestinian families.

Goes to show how much Abbas and the PA care about their own people. They are more concerned with power and of course money that they will fight tooth and nail against anything that would improve the lives of the people in Gaza.