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Hamas hands over Arafat house to PLO after 8 years' control

Xinhua, November 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Islamic movement of Hamas on Tuesday handed over the house of late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Gaza after eight years' control.

Hamas leader Ghazi Hamad handed the house over to a delegation of the Yasser Arafat Foundation, headed by Fatah central committee member and the PLO executive committee member Zakaria al-Agha.

The handover process was also attended by a number of Palestinian parties and carried out under the protection of Palestinian police.

The house included pictures of the late leader, his military uniform, his private weapon, furniture and other belongings.

"President Arafat has spent his life for the Palestinian cause," Al-Agha said during the event.

"President Arafat has always called for national unity," al-Agha said while stressing the importance of abiding by the goals of Yasser Arafat which include the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Al-Agha called upon Hamas, the party that forcibly controlled the Gaza Strip in 2007 after rounds of fighting with forces loyal to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), to take practical measures to end the internal split.

Meanwhile, member of Fatah's revolutionary council Faisal Abu Shahla told Xinhua that it is an emotional moment to be able to enter Arafat's house after all these years.

He added that Arafat's house is to be turned into a museum to tell the story of his life.

Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said that his party handed the house over to the Yasser Arafat Foundation following the official approval of Arafat's widow Suha.

Abu Zuhri considered the move a "national and positive signal that should be built on to achieve the national unity, which the Palestinian people need the most in this time."

Arafat is the former president of the PLO since 1969 and the first President of the PNA since its establishment in 1994.

Arafat died on Nov. 11, 2004 in a mysterious illness that claimed life of the 75-year-old man. Palestinians have accused Israel of assassinating their leader by poison. Endit