Fatah, Hamas delegations head to Cairo for reconciliation talks

Ramallah, Nov 16 (IANS): Fatah and Hamas delegations will head to Cairo to continue their negotiations on internal reconciliation, senior Palestinian officials said.

“The Fatah delegation is headed by its Central Committee Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub, and two other senior leaders — Rawhi Fattouh and Ahmed Helles,” Abbas Zaki, a senior Fatah leader, told Xinhua news agency on Sunday.

“These meetings aim to continue the reconciliation efforts between Fatah and Hamas to end the internal division that will lead to the Palestinian presidential and legislative elections as soon as possible,” Zaki added.

He praised Egypt’s role in sponsoring Palestinian reconciliation, stressing that “those efforts will achieve success in ending the Palestinian division”.

Hazem Qassem, spokesman of Hamas in Gaza, said in a press statement that Hamas will meet Fatah in Cairo to prepare for building a joint strategy to face all challenges against the Palestinian cause.

Hamas had seized control of the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007 and since then, an internal political and geographical division over administrative, financial and security issues has remained between the two sides despite a series of Arab and international mediations.

In March 2018, then Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah survived an explosion when his convoy entered Gaza, an incident that was blamed on Hamas.

Despite a history of strife, Fatah and Hamas recently announced their agreement to put differences aside to confront Israeli plan to annex parts of the West Bank.