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| Hokay, on the count of three ... one .. two .. |
The armed elements left the hall upon arriaval of large numbers of PA police, special units and preventive security elements. Hussein Al-Sheikh, who was heading the meeting, lashed out at members of the Fatah central committee, accusing them of masterminding such an attack, which he described as "barbaric". Hussein affirmed that the meeting was not meant against anyone or targeted division but pointed out, "We will not allow anyone to silence us".
"We will not remain silent while watching Fatah collapsing before us," he said amidst the applause of 1,000 or so Fatah members attending the meeting. Hussein said that he asked PA chief Mahmoud Abbas to attend the meeting, which he said was an attempt to evaluate the Movement and correct its path especially when the local and legislative elections were approaching.