RAMALLAH, January 4 (JMCC) -
Hamas leader
Ismail Haniyeh made a rare call to Palestinian president
Mahmoud Abbas Monday to offer condolences for the death of Abbas' brother.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said the president's older brother, Atta Rida Shehada Abbas, died Monday morning in Damascus. It did not give his age. President Abbas, 76, will receive mourners at his Ramallah office on Wednesday, it said.
On its website, the agency quoted Abbas as saying, My great fighting brother has gone to join the caravans of martyrs from our faithful, patient people who have given themselves for Palestine.
It said the elder Abbas was among the first generation of the Fatah movement, which dominates the Palestinian Authority.
There has been little contact between the two leaders since Hamas took over
Palestinian Authority security installations in the
Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007.
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