Egypt airport authorities on Tuesday deported a high-ranking member of the central committee of Abbas's Fatah movement Jibril al-Rajoub, apparently in response to Palestinian authority's arrest of supporters loyal to former Fatah leader Mohamed Dahlan.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Dahlan from Fatah's central committee in 2011 after the latter made statements on corruption in one of the Palestinian Authority funds, in which he suggested sons of Abbas are implicated.
Dahlan has lived in the UAE since that time and in December was sentenced in absentia to three years in prison for allegedly embezzling US$16 million as a Cabinet minister.
Dahlan is considered one of the frontrunners to eventually replace 81-year-old Abbas. He held a conference for his fellow Fatah members in the state-owned al-Masah Hotel last month to discuss the future of reforming the movement.
Since the rift, Abbas has taken a series of steps to block Dahlan’s possible return to a West Bank leadership position. Egypt and other Arab states urged Abbas to allow Dahlan’s return.
Rajoub has been returned to Jordan on the same flight on which he arrived, and received no explanation for the matter.
The move comes only few days after Palestinian security forces arrested members of the Fatah movement loyal to Dahlan in the West Bank, in response to their participation in Dahlan's conference in Cairo last month.
Rajoub, who now heads the Higher Council for Youth and Sports and the Palestinian Football Association, arrived Cairo yesterday upon an invitation from the Arab League to participate in a conference on terrorism and social development.
During a phone-in last night with the celebrated TV show Al-Ashera Masaan, hosted by Wael al-Ebrashy on the privately owned satellite channel Dream, Rajoub demanded an explanation for the incident.
"My relationship with the people and the political system in Egypt is historical, and I am not Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Ahan to be banned from entering Egypt. The Egyptian authorities should clarify the reasons for the denied entry," Rajoub said.
Monir al-Jaghoub, a Fatah official in the West Bank, said on his Facebook page that after learning Rajoub had been refused entry to the country on the orders of the Egyptian intelligence services, the Palestinian delegation withdrew from the event.
