GAZA, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Hamas authorities banned Fatah members from holding ceremonies to mark the fifth anniversary of late leader Yasser Arafat in the Gaza Strip, a Fatah lawmaker said Thursday.

    Faisal Abu Shahla, a Gaza-based Fatah lawmaker, told Xinhua that the deposed Hamas government is "preventing Fatah from holding any public activities either for Arafat's anniversary or any other occasion."

    Hamas, which routed security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and seized control of Gaza in June 2007, allowed Fatah members to hold a ceremony marking Arafat's death in November 2007, but the event ended with clashes between the participants and Hamas security forces, which killed 12 Palestinians.

    Arafat died on Nov. 11, 2004 in a French hospital where he was receiving treatment for an undisclosed disease after two years of Israeli siege on his West Bank office.

Special Report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts