Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday asked for an urgent Israeli permission to head for the Gaza Strip for the first time in more than three years, the PNA presidency office said.
The Palestinian presidency said that Abbas ordered the Palestinian Civil Affairs Ministry, which oversees daily coordination with Israel, to prepare for his visit to Gaza as soon as possible.
Minister of the Palestinian Civil Affairs Ministry Hussein Al- Sheikh told Xinhua that his ministry "started doing security and logistic arrangements with Israel" for Abbas' visit to Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamic Hamas movement.
"The visit will take place in the few coming days," Al-Sheikh said.
On Wednesday, Abbas said he will go to Gaza in response to public pressure on his Fatah party and rival Hamas to reconcile and end schism. The division between Gaza and the West Bank started when Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and took over Gaza in 2007. Since then, Abbas' rule has been confined to the West Bank.
Mass protests, ignited by independent youths, started on March 15 in Gaza and in the West Bank, demanding the two rivals to reconcile. Ismail Haneya, the head of Hamas' Gaza administration, called upon Abbas for a meeting to renew national dialogue.
Abbas said that he will go to Gaza to form a technocratic government preparing for national and presidential elections in six months, stressing that he will not run for another term.
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