Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party slammed a Hamas travel ban on 400 Gaza Fatah members to join their sixth general assembly to be held in Bethlehem as a move that would undermine the inter-Palestinian dialogue.

"In case Hamas continues to prevent Gaza Fatah members from leaving Gaza to join the conference, this will be a declaration of death to all the previous rounds of inter-Palestinian dialogue we have had," said Azzam el-Ahmed, a senior Fatah leader in the West Bank.

Fatah movement is determined to hold its general assembly in Bethlehem on Tuesday, however, Hamas leaders said Gaza Fatah members can leave Gaza and join the conference only if Abbas security forces release around 900 members imprisoned in West Bankjails.

Seven rounds of Egypt-sponsored unity dialogue, which had been held in Cairo since March between the two rival groups, failed to produce any agreement on issues of the unity government, security forces and the electoral law.

Amid the ongoing rift between the two groups, Fatah and Hamas leaders cast doubt over whether a further round of dialogue would be held in Cairo soon, although Egypt has informed the two groups' negotiators that the upcoming round of dialogue will be held in Cairo on August 25.

Hamas has rejected several requests made by Arab and foreign countries, including Egypt, Syria, Qatar, Russia and Turkey, to lift the travel ban on Gaza Fatah members. It reiterated the ban would be lifted if Hamas prisoners in the West Bank were released.

"If Hamas leaders insists on their position to prevent our Gaza colleagues from traveling to Bethlehem, it means that there is no need for resuming the dialogue with a group that behaves like a gang," said el-Ahmed, adding that "so far, Fatah hasn't lost hope that Gaza members will be able to attend."

Hamas overran security forces loyal to Abbas and seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, while the West Bank remains under the control of Abbas and his Fatah party. The two groups have been cracking down on each other's members and activists.

"I believe that Hamas behavior in the Gaza Strip is endangering the Palestinian cause and will enlarge the current political rift between Gaza and the West Bank," said el-Ahmed. "We were hoping that Hamas would avoid using this policy of blackmail against us."

Around 70 Arab and foreign delegations arrived in Bethlehem over the last couple of days to join the Fatah congress. Organizers of the congress said the technical preparations for holding the conference in the holy city have been finalized.

It would be the first time for the conference to be waged in the Palestinian territories and it aims to elect a new leadership of the dominant movement in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The latest general assembly of Fatah movement was held in Tunis in 1989 and was chaired by late leader Yasser Arafat who died in France in November 2004.

According to a draft Fatah document received by Xinhua, the group refuses to recognize Israel as a "Jewish state," and wants to approve a "peaceful popular struggle" strategy against Israel if peace negotiations fail.

The document is to be approved by the general assembly.

The Palestinians fear that recognizing Israel as "a Jewish state" would automatically annul the legitimate right of Palestinian refugees to return and of having East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu stressed earlier that he only accepts the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state, without Jerusalem as its capital and without the right of Palestinians to return to the state of Israel.

Meanwhile, Taher al-Nounou, spokesman for the deposed Hamas government in Gaza, told reporters that the travel freedom of Gaza Fatah members to the West Bank "is not in the hands of Hamas, it is in the hands of Mahmoud Abbas who can easily release Hamas prisoners from his jail."

"In order to have us lift the travel ban on Gaza Fatah members, Fatah was supposed to clearly announce that it is committed to releasing Hamas prisoners from West Bank jails and would completely close the file of arrests," said al-Nounou.

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2009)