Category: World Service
Date: 11.11.2005
Printable version
Fears of a civil war in Gaza and the West Bank have been dismissed by the Palestinian Minister for Civil Affairs, Mohammad Dahlan, speaking to Â鶹Éç World Service.
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Asked about the possibility of clashes between Hamas militants and the Palestinian Authority in the run-up to elections, he told The World Today on the World Service: "There is no reason for a Palestinian on Palestinian civil war - and this will not happen.
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"We don't have ethnic or religious differences. These elements are not in the Palestinian community. There might be some problems - but they will not lead to internal fighting."
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In an interview with World Service Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston, marking the first anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death, he added: "All this Hamas power that you and the foreign media talk about is not real power.
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"The real power shows in the opinion polls - showing that all the Palestinian people want stability, security and peace.
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"Seventy-five per cent of people support the peace process and want peace and stability and not a return to the past. This is the way to measure the situation. Anything else is not real."
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Asked about Palestinian take-over of former Israeli settlements in Gaza, Dahlan said that big redevelopment projects "don't happen overnight".
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But he added: "We have housing projects funded by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and they won't take long. But schemes such as reopening Gaza airport and building of the sea port... well, the funds are ready, but Israel won't let us start."
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Notes to Editors
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The Â鶹Éç World Service's global audience in 2005 is 149 million per week.
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Monthly page impressions to the Â鶹Éç's international news site, which include audio and visual content and offer users opportunities to discuss world events, are 350 million. This equates to over 20 million monthly unique users.
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World Service is funded through Grant-in-Aid from the UK Government Foreign Office. The grant for 2005/6 is £239m.
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World Service is an international radio and online broadcaster delivering programmes and services in more than 40 languages. It uses multiple platforms to reach 149 million listeners globally, including Short Wave, AM, FM, digital satellite and cable channels.
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It has more than 2,000 partner radio stations around the world which take Â鶹Éç content, and numerous partnerships supplying content to mobile phones.
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