Qatari emir set for landmark Gaza visit

GAZA CITY: Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani is set to arrive in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in the first visit by a head of state since the Islamist Hamas movement took over in 2007.

The ruler of the Gulf emirate was to enter the Palestinian territory at 11:00 am (0900 GMT) via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, accompanied by his wife, Sheikha Moza and Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani, in a visit Hamas hailed as "very important."

It comes during a spike in tension between Israel and Hamas, whose armed wing on Monday threatened revenge for Israeli air strikes that killed one of its men and at least one other militant.

During his brief visit, the emir will inaugurate a $254-million Qatari investment project to rebuild the impoverished and overcrowded Gaza Strip, which sustained major damage during a huge 22-day Israeli military operation in December 2008 and January 2009.

"This visit has great political significance," said Hamas government spokesman Taher al-Nunu.

"He is the first Arab leader to break the political siege," Nunu said, referring to a widespread international boycott of Gaza's Hamas rulers since they forcibly took over the enclave in 2007, ousting forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

"We have finished all the security and logistical arrangements for this historic and important visit," he told.

VIP visitors to Gaza over the past five years, such as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and European Union foreign ministers, have studiously avoided Hamas officials. But the emir will be met on arrival by prime minister Ismail Haniya and several cabinet ministers.

That fact was not lost on Israel.

"We find it weird that the emir doesn't support all of the Palestinians but sides with Hamas over the Palestinian Authority (in the West Bank) which he has never visited," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told on Monday.

"The emir has chosen his camp and it is not good."

Israeli launched two air strikes on Monday around the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanun where militants were firing mortar rounds at an Israeli tank and military vehicles which had crossed into Gaza territory, witnesses and security sources said.