Fatah accuses Hamas of establishing a " tunnels' republic" under the Gaza
Strip
Date: 20 / 01 / 2007 Time: 19:23
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=18795

Ramallah - Ma'an - The spokesperson of the Fatah movement in the West bank,
Jamal Nazzal, on Saturday accused the Hamas movement and government of
spending millions of US dollars on the excavation of tunnels between the
Gaza Strip's cities. He compared the network of tunnels in Gaza to that
which Al-Qaeda established in Kabul.

Nazzal said that the tunnels, which have been discovered, indicate a huge
project aimed at establishing an underground structure which he called, the
"tunnels' republic," to which press and law can have no access.

According to the spokesperson, Palestinian minister of interior Dr Mahmoud
Zahhar had recently confirmed that $120 million was delivered to the
Palestinians, yet only $60 million entered the treasury. Fatah has demanded
that the finance ministry reveal the whereabouts of those millions.

Fatah has also recently appointed a four-member committee to investigate the
tunnels and reveal any more that there may be.

The spokesperson of the Hamas movement, Fawzi Barhoom, denied that they have
established the so-called "tunnels' republic," saying that the news aims to
undermine the movement after it had succeeded in capturing the Israeli
soldier, Gilad Shalit. He told Ma'an that "the same news and accusations
appeared in the Israeli media months ago to devaluate the Hamas movement in
Gaza Strip."