Fatah, Hamas reach agreement in Palestinian reconciliation talks

2017-10-12

GAZA CITY - Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reached an agreement Thursday on ending a decade-long split following talks mediated by Egypt in Cairo, with president Mahmud Abbas calling it a "final" accord.

Details of the agreement have not yet been released and a press conference was being planned for Thursday afternoon in the Egyptian capital, where talks have been taking place since Tuesday.

Abbas welcomed the deal and said he considered it a "final agreement to end the division" -- though many details remain to be resolved and previous reconciliation attempts have repeatedly failed.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya's office said in a statement, without giving further details, that "an agreement was reached today between Hamas and Fatah under Egyptian sponsorship."

An official from Abbas's Fatah movement said the Palestinian president was now planning to travel to the Gaza Strip within a month as part of the unity bid in what would be his first visit in a decade.

Sanctions taken by Abbas against Hamas-controlled Gaza will also soon be lifted, the Fatah official said.

The deal includes 3,000 members of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority's police force redeploying to Gaza, a member of the negotiating team said on condition of anonymity.

The figure is however a fraction of the more than 20,000 police officers employed separately by Hamas.

Another party to the negotiations, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agreement would see Palestinian Authority forces take control of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

He added that all Palestinian factions would begin wider negotiations on the formation of a unity government in the coming two weeks.

One of the key issues has been punitive measures taken by Abbas against Gaza in recent months, including reducing electricity payments that left the territory's residents with only a few hours of power a day.

"All the measures taken recently will end very shortly," Zakaria al-Agha, a senior Fatah leader in the Gaza Strip, said.

The two sides had been meeting in the Egyptian capital this week with the aim of ending the crippling decade-old split between the rival factions.

Hamas seized Gaza from Fatah in a near civil war in 2007 and the two factions have been at loggerheads ever since. Multiple previous reconciliation efforts have failed.

Egypt has been keen to improve security in the Sinai Peninsula which borders Gaza and where jihadist rebels have fought a long-running insurgency.

An Egyptian source close to the talks said intelligence chief Khaled Fawzi had followed the talks closely.

- Fate of armed wing -

Last month, Hamas agreed to cede civil power in Gaza to the Palestinian Authority but the fate of its vast military wing remains a significant issue for the two sides.

Islamist movement Hamas is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.

It has fought three wars with Israel since 2008 and the blockaded Gaza Strip has seen deteriorating humanitarian conditions.

Faced with increasing isolation and a severe electricity shortage, Hamas has reached out to Egypt for help, hoping to have the Rafah border opened.

The crossing has remained largely closed in recent years.

Egypt has also agreed to provide fuel to the Gaza Strip for electricity generation.

In return, Cairo pressed Hamas to move forward on reconciliation with Fatah.

Previous attempts at reconciliation have repeatedly failed, and many analysts are treating the latest bid with caution, waiting to see if actual change will occur on the ground.

Last week, Palestinian Authority prime minister Rami Hamdallah visited Gaza for the first time since 2015 and his ministers took formal control of government departments in the territory.

But the move was seen as mainly symbolic, with Hamas still effectively in charge in the Palestinian enclave of two million people bordered by Egypt, Israel and the Mediterranean Sea.

One of the key sticking points will be the fate of Hamas's 25,000-strong military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

Reconciliation could also pose a dilemma for international efforts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal since Hamas has not recognized Israel, unlike the Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organization.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=85354.

Fatah welcomes Hamas pledge to try to end Palestinian split

September 17, 2017

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement on Sunday welcomed a pledge by its Hamas rival to accept key conditions for ending a decade-old Palestinian political and territorial split, but said it wants to see vows implemented before making the next move.

Repeated attempts at reconciliation have failed since the militant Hamas drove forces loyal to Abbas from the Gaza Strip in 2007, a year after defeating Fatah in parliament elections. The takeover led to rival governments, with Hamas controlling Gaza and Abbas in charge of autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Earlier Sunday, Hamas announced that it has accepted key Abbas demands for ending the split. This includes holding general elections in the West Bank and Gaza, dissolving a contentious Gaza administrative committee and allowing an Abbas-led "unity government," formed in 2014 but until now unable to start operating in Gaza, to finally assume responsibility there.

The announcement came after separate talks by Hamas and Fatah delegations with Egyptian intelligence officials in Cairo in recent days. Egypt relayed Fatah demands to Hamas that as a first step, it must dissolve the administrative committee, its de facto government in Gaza, and allow the unity government to take charge.

"We accepted that as a sign of our good will toward reconciliation," Hamas official Hussam Badran told The Associated Press. "The administrative committee is now dissolved and the government can come to Gaza today to assume its responsibilities and duties," he said.

Azzam al-Ahmed, a Fatah participant in the talks, said Hamas and Fatah agreed to meet in Cairo within 10 days, during which time the national unity government should assume its responsibility in Gaza.

Mahmoud Aloul, another Fatah official, told the Voice of Palestine radio that the news from Cairo is encouraging, but that "we want to see that happening on the ground before we move to the next step."

Hamas has been greatly weakened by an Israeli and Egyptian blockade, three wars with Israel and international isolation. Gaza's economy is in tatters and residents of the territory have electricity for only a few hours a day. In recent months, Abbas has stepped up financial pressure on Hamas, including by scaling back electricity payments to Gaza, to force his rivals to cede ground.

Still, there were no guarantees that this deal would succeed where others failed. In previous deals, including one brokered by Egypt in 2011, both sides professed willingness to reconcile, but ultimately balked at giving up power in their respective territories.

A key sticking point in the past was Hamas' refusal to place its security forces in Gaza under the control of an Abbas-led unity government. It also was not clear how Egypt's latest effort aligns with its previous tacit support for a separate Gaza power-sharing deal between Hamas and Mohammed Dahlan, an exiled former Abbas aide-turned-rival.

New Hamas leader says it is getting aid again from Iran

August 28, 2017

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas' new leader in the Gaza Strip said Monday his group has repaired relations with Iran after a five-year rift and is using its newfound financial and military aid to gear up for new hostilities with Israel.

The announcement by Yehiyeh Sinwar came as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting Israel. At a meeting with the U.N. chief, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu complained about what he called rising anti-Israel activity by Iran and its allies in the region.

Iran was once the top backer of Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel's destruction. But Hamas broke with Iran in 2012 after the group refused to support Iran's close ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, in the Syrian civil war.

During a four-hour meeting with journalists, Sinwar said those ties have been restored and are stronger than ever. "Today, the relationship with Iran is excellent, or very excellent," Sinwar said. He added that the Islamic Republic is "the largest backer financially and militarily" to Hamas' military wing.

It was the first time that Sinwar has met reporters since he was elected in February. The 55-year-old Sinwar, who spent two decades in Israeli prison after being convicted of masterminding the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers, has close ties with Hamas' militant wing and takes a hard line toward Israel.

Israel and Iran are bitter enemies, and Israel has recently expressed concern that Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah are seeking a permanent military presence in Syria near the Israeli border. Both Hezbollah fighters and Iran have backed Assad's forces in the Syrian war.

In his meeting with Guterres, Netanyahu alleged Iran is building sites in Syria and Lebanon to produce "precision-guided missiles" to be used against Israel. "Iran is busy turning Syria into a base of military entrenchment, and it wants to use Syria and Lebanon as warfronts against its declared goal to eradicate Israel," Netanyahu said. "This is something Israel cannot accept. This is something the U.N. should not accept."

Israel has also accused the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, of failing to prevent Hezbollah from smuggling huge quantities of weapons into southern Lebanon in violation of a 2006 cease-fire. UNIFIL's mandate is up for renewal at the end of the month and Israel is pressing for the force to have an increased presence to better monitor and prevent the alleged Hezbollah arms buildup.

UNIFIL's commander, Maj. Gen. Michael Beary, told The Associated Press last week that he has no evidence that weapons are being illegally transferred and stockpiled in the Hezbollah-dominated south. But Guterres promised Netanyahu that he will do everything in my capacity" to ensure UNIFIL fulfills its obligations.

"I understand the security concerns of Israel and I repeat that the idea or the intention or the will to destroy the state of Israel is something totally unacceptable from my perspective," he said. Responding to Israeli claims that the U.N. is biased, Guterres stressed his commitment to "treating all states equally." He said those who call for Israel's destruction peddle in a "form of modern anti-Semitism" — though he also said he doesn't always agree with the country's policies.

Guterres heads to the West Bank on Tuesday and is scheduled to visit Gaza on Wednesday. The U.N. maintains major operations in Gaza, running schools and health clinics and delivering humanitarian aid. Guterres is not scheduled to speak to Hamas.

Late Monday, Guterres met with Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, commander of COGAT, the defense body that is responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs. Mordechai blamed Hamas for the poor conditions in Gaza, saying the group tries to exploit civilians and aid programs. He also said Hamas' refusal to return the remains of two dead Israeli soldiers, along with two Israeli civilians it is holding, hinders Israeli efforts to assist Gaza.

"The terror organization Hamas does not hesitate at all and repeatedly exploits the Gaza residents by attempting to take advantage of Israel's assistance, despite the severe civil hardships in the strip," Mordechai said.

Guterres later met with the families of the dead soldiers and captive Israeli civilians. In his briefing with reporters, Sinwar would not say how much aid Iran provides his group. Before the 2012 breakup, Iran provided an estimated $50 million a month to Hamas.

Hamas wrested control of Gaza from the Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas' forces in 2007. Since then, it has fought three wars with Israel. Hamas has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, shootings and other attacks. It is considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

Sinwar stressed that the Iranian aid is for "rebuilding and accumulating" Hamas' military powers for a larger fight against Israel that is meant to "liberate Palestine." "Thousands of people work every day to make rockets, (dig) tunnels and train frogmen," he said. "The relationship with Iran is in this context."

But the shadowy leader said his movement does not intend to start a fourth war with Israel, instead preferring to remedy dire living conditions in the impoverished coastal enclave. Israel and Egypt imposed a blockade on Gaza after the Hamas takeover a decade ago. Trying to pressure Hamas and regain control, Abbas has asked Israel to reduce electricity supplies to Gaza, and he has slashed the salaries of thousands of his former government employees there.

The result is that Gaza suffers acute power outages of up to 16 hours a day, unemployment of nearly 50 percent and widespread poverty. Sinwar has turned to Egypt, which has begun to ease the blockade as it seeks Hamas' help in controlling their border. The Egyptian military has been fighting an Islamic insurgency in the Sinai desert, near Gaza.

Relations with Cairo "have improved dramatically," Sinwar said. Egypt has recently sent fuel to ease the power crisis in response to Hamas' building of a buffer zone along the border. "We will knock on all the doors, except that of the (Israeli) occupation, to resolve the problems," he said.

Sinwar was among more than 1,000 Palestinians released by Israel in 2011 in exchange for an Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit, whom Hamas kidnapped in 2006. Sinwar said there would be no new talks over a prisoner swap until Israel frees 54 prisoners released in the Schalit swap that have been re-arrested.

"We are ready to start negotiations through a mediator, but only when the table is cleaned. Freed prisoners must feel they are immune."

Federman reported from Jerusalem.

Hamas says Ismail Haniyeh chosen as Islamic group's leader

May 06, 2017

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Hamas Islamic militant movement that controls the Gaza Strip announced Saturday it had chosen its former Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh as the group's new political chief.

Haniyeh succeeds Hamas' longtime exiled leader Khaled Mashaal, and the move comes shortly after Gaza's rulers unveiled a new, seemingly more pragmatic political program aimed at ending the group's international isolation.

Hamas is trying to rebrand itself as an Islamic national liberation movement, rather than a branch of the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood, which has been outlawed by Egypt. It has also dropped explicit language calling for Israel's destruction, though it retains the goal of eventually "liberating" all of historic Palestine, which includes what is now Israel.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group hoped Haniyeh's election "would see opening to the region." Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007, after securing an overwhelming victory in legislative elections the previous year and ending 40 years of political domination by its rival Fatah party. Hamas captured the coastal strip by violently overthrowing forces loyal to the Fatah movement, led by Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel, along with Egypt, has been enforcing a crippling border blockade against them since then. Though it has softened some of its rhetoric, Hamas' new platform clung to the hard-line positions that led to its isolation. The group reaffirmed it will not recognize Israel, renounce violence or recognize previous interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals — the West's long-standing conditions for dealing with Hamas.

In its founding charter, Hamas called for setting up an Islamic state in historic Palestine, or the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, which also includes Israel. It also included anti-Jewish references.

Over the years, Hamas has carried out shootings, suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israel. Since 2008, Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza have fought three cross-border wars. Abbas has been an outspoken opponent of violence, saying it undercuts Palestinian interests. Repeated reconciliation efforts between the Palestinian factions have failed. Hamas has sharply criticized Abbas' political program, which rests on setting up a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

Haniyeh's selection marks the final phase of the secretive Hamas elections. In February, the group chose militant commander Yehiya Sinwar, one of its most hard-line figures, as its new Gaza chief in charge of the group's core power base.

Haniyeh, 54, was born in the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza. He was the private secretary of Hamas' founder and spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin. In 2006, after Hamas won the legislative elections, Haniyeh was chosen by the movement to form its first government. He resigned as prime minister after Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a unity government in 2014 — a government has never taken hold.

For the past four years he has served as Mashaal's deputy. Haniyeh's first task will be to cope with escalating tensions between Hamas and Fatah. In recent weeks, Abbas has threatened to exert financial pressure, including cutting wage payments and aid to Gaza, as a way of forcing Hamas to cede ground.

Gaza resident Rani Abu Samra said he hoped Haniyeh's election could bridge gaps with Fatah and mark "a new beginning for a real reconciliation on the internal Palestinian level." In Gaza, where Haniyeh still resides in his home in a refugee camp, some residents saw his election as a sign that could draw attention to the territory's woes.

"If someone is from outside Gaza, he won't talk about Gaza's ordeals and worries properly," said Ahmed Okasha, a Gaza vendor. Since quitting his longtime base in Damascus in 2012, Mashaal has mostly lived in lavish suites in the capital of the oil rich gulf state of Qatar.

New Hamas program softens language, but some goals remain

May 02, 2017

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Islamic militant Hamas on Monday unveiled what had been billed as a new, seemingly more pragmatic political program aimed at ending the group's international isolation.

With the new manifesto, Hamas rebrands itself as an Islamic national liberation movement, rather than a branch of the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood, which has been outlawed by Egypt. It also drops explicit language calling for Israel's destruction, though it retains the goal of eventually "liberating" all of historic Palestine, which includes what is now Israel.

It's not clear if the changes will be enough to improve relations with Egypt which, along with Israel, has been enforcing a crippling border blockade against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip since the group seized the territory in 2007.

Hamas clung to hard-line positions that led to its isolation in the first place. The group reaffirmed that it will not recognize Israel, renounce violence or recognize previous interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals — the West's long-standing conditions for dealing with Hamas.

The five-page program, a result of four years of internal deliberations, was presented at a news conference in Doha, Qatar, by Khaled Mashaal, the outgoing Hamas leader in exile. The group has said Mashaal's replacement is to be named later this month, after the completion of secret leadership elections.

The document reflects a "reasonable Hamas, that is serious about dealing with the reality and the regional and international surroundings, while still representing the cause of its people," said Mashaal.

A copy of the program was distributed to journalists in Gaza who followed the news conference by video link. The new platform seemed to cement the ideological divide between Hamas and its main political rival, the Fatah movement of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hamas drove out forces loyal to Abbas in its 2007 takeover of Gaza, a year after defeating Fatah in Palestinian parliament elections. Reconciliation efforts have failed. The Hamas manifesto was released at a time of escalating tensions between the two sides. In recent weeks, Abbas has threatened to exert financial pressure, including cutting wage payments and aid to Gaza, as a way of forcing Hamas to cede ground.

Leaders of the group have vowed they will not budge. The war of words with Hamas was seen as an attempt by Abbas to position himself as a leader of all Palestinians ahead of his first meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday. The U.S. president has said he would try to broker Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on a peace deal, despite repeated failures over the past two decades.

In the past, Hamas has sharply criticized Abbas' political program, which rests on setting up a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.

In its founding charter, Hamas called for setting up an Islamic state in historic Palestine, or the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, which also includes Israel. The new program for the first time raises the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state in the 1967 lines, saying it's a "national consensus formula." However, the wording suggests Hamas considers this to be an interim step, not a way of ending the conflict.

The document does not contain an explicit call for Israel's destruction, but says "Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea." "There shall be no recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist entity," the document says.

The Palestine Liberation Organization, now led by Abbas, exchanged letters of mutual recognition with Israel in 1993. The Hamas document said it considers armed resistance against occupation as a strategic choice and that the group "rejects any attempt to undermine the resistance and its arms."

Over the years, Hamas has carried out shooting, bombing and rocket attacks in Israel. Since 2008, Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza have fought three cross-border wars. Abbas has been an outspoken opponent of violence, saying it undercuts Palestinian interests.

While the founding charter was filled with anti-Jewish references, the new document stresses that Hamas bears no enmity toward Jews. It says its fight is with those who occupy Palestinian lands. Mashaal is to step down as Hamas leader later this month. Two possible contenders for the No. 1 spot are Moussa Abu Marzouk, a former Hamas leader, and Ismail Haniyeh, a former top Hamas official in Gaza.

The Mashaal announcement was initially scheduled for 7 p.m. (1600 GMT) Monday, but was delayed after a Doha hotel withdrew consent at the last minute to host the Hamas news conference. Hamas scrambled to find a new venue.

Laub reported from Ramallah, West Bank.

After Aleppo's fall, Hamas finds itself resisting Tehran as well as Tel Aviv

Wednesday 28 December 2016

The fall of Aleppo to Iran-backed pro-government forces has brought a bubbling conflict between Iran and Hamas to the boil, with the former making thinly-veiled threats to cut off the Palestinian group.

The threats came from Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a member of the Iranian Foreign Affairs and National Security Committee, in the wake of increasing solidarity from Hamas to Aleppo.

In an interview last week with the reformist Qanun newspaper, Falahatpisheh made clear there would be material consequences if Hamas did not change its position on Iran’s role in the region, not least its intervention in Syria.

If Hamas does not reconsider the “inconsistent positions by its leaders,” Tehran will be forced to turn to “the most detested of available options” – turning to other Palestinian factions such as the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, said Falahatpisheh on 21 December.

The tensions between Hamas, the most renowned anti-Israel movement in the region, and Iran are significant, as Tehran legitimizes its foreign policy through its "Axis of Resistance" against Israel and the United States, which includes Hamas, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“Currently, the sphere of influence of the resistance extends from the Indian subcontinent to the borders of Israel,” Falahatpisheh said.

The harshness of the senior Iranian official's tone underlines the depth of the crisis in relations. Falahatpisheh accused Hamas of continuing to “support terrorist groups working under the umbrella of the Syrian opposition”.

He described Hamas’ current stance as “hostile,” and saw the group as moving out of Iran’s sphere of influence.

Falahatpisheh demanded Hamas not forget that Syria was, in his words, “a leader in the resistance, and much of its misfortunes are now due to this position”.

Hamas' support for Aleppo

“We are following with great pain what is happening in Aleppo and the horrific massacres, murders and genocide its people are going through, and condemn it entirely,” read a statement from Hamas at the height of the bombardment of Aleppo.

The movement asked those whom it described as “wise, free and responsible in the ummah (global Islamic community) to act promptly to protect civilians in Aleppo and save those who are still alive”.

It also called on international, human rights and humanitarian institutions around the world to intervene immediately to “stop these dreadful massacres, stand by the children, women and elderly of Aleppo and save them from death and destruction”.

Ahmed Youssef, a senior Hamas figure and former foreign relations head, told al-Khaleej Online that his group would not change course – not least after what happened in Aleppo.

Youssef said the group’s position reflected that of the Palestinian public, who themselves have suffered similar brutality during Israel’s repeated assaults on the Gaza Strip.

He was adamant that Hamas would continue to stand in solidarity with Syria and condemn the killing of civilians there.

During Hamas’ recent parade commemorating the movement’s 29th anniversary, civilian Gazans and Qassam Brigade soldiers alike were seen carrying banners in solidarity with the people of Aleppo.

Hamas-Iran tensions

On the issue of Iranian-Hamas relations, the Iranian outlet Qanun threw in its own two cents: “It seems that Hamas moved away from Iran a long time ago."

“This can be clearly seen from what is taking place in Syria. All of this is occurring at a time when leaders of the movement deny the existence of any differences of opinion between Tehran and the movement.

“In reality, however, their actions contradict their words.”

“Its financial relations with the Arabs are the reason behind the incoherent positions among the movement’s leaders,” Falahatpisheh said, going as far as to add that the “Israeli lobby” was influencing the group’s position.

He accused a “current” within Hamas of “seeking to save Daesh under the label of the Syrian opposition”.

There are also tensions within Hamas's leadership over Iran's influence on the group's direction, which were made public through information leaked to the London-based pan-Arab al-Sharq al-Awsat daily.

The leaks came from a meeting of senior Hamas leaders, where a leading commander of Hamas's military wing expressed his concern over growing Iranian influence due to its financial and military support for the group.

Salah al-Arouri is a founding commander of Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and the movement’s preeminent figure in the West Bank.

According to the leaks, he accused Qassem Soleimani – leader of the Quds Force, the elite branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) – of trying to weaken the Qassam Brigade’s allegiance to Hamas and attempting to absorb them into the Quds Force.

Arouri also protested in the meeting against the pressure Soleimani was putting on the group to pledge complete loyalty to Tehran in the same way Islamic Jihad had done when their general secretary, Ramadan Shalah, led a delegation to Tehran and pledged an oath of allegiance to the Iranian regime.

Relations between Hamas and Iran deteriorated sharply following the outbreak of the Syrian revolution in 2011. The following year, the group’s leadership left Damascus after being based there for more than a decade. Their funding was reduced drastically shortly thereafter.

“Our position on Syria affected relations with Iran. Its support for us never stopped, but the amounts [of money] were significantly reduced,” a senior Hamas official said in 2013.

In response to this turn of events, Iran ramped up funding for other Palestinian groups, most notably the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Islamic Jihad moves closer to Iran

Islamic Jihad has staged its own show of force in Gaza in recent months in a rally including its military wing – the al-Quds Brigades.

Shalah, quoted in the al-Sharq al-Awsat leaks as criticizing Iranian influence, spoke via video link at the October rally, saying: "[Iran] is the only country which commits to the unending support of the Palestinian cause”.

Islamic Jihad has had their own tensions with Iran over Syria for the past two years, but have recently changed tune and become one of Iran’s most vociferous Palestinian proxies.

Earlier this year, Shalah led a Palestinian Islamic Jihad delegation to Tehran and met with Soleimani.

“The defense of Palestine amounts to a defense of Islam,” Shalah said, adding: “The Arab states did not support the popular uprising in Palestine and will never support it since it contradicts their leaders’ agendas. Iran is the only state that supports the intifada and the martyrs’ families.”

Soleimani pledged to provide $70m in annual assistance to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad after the visit, which could explain their change in direction.

JPost reported that the move could be seen as a snub to Hamas following the 2015 visit by the movement's political chief Khaled Meshaal to Iran’s arch-rival Saudi Arabia, which appeared to mark a significant warming of relations with the Gulf state.

At the end of his interview, Falahatpisheh said that Tehran “does not see Hamas as the whole of the resistance.

“If Hamas continues its current political direction in obstructing things, then Iran will develop new relations with other Palestinian groups without seriously harming the resistance.”

Source: Middle East Eye.
Link: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/after-aleppo-s-fall-hamas-finds-itself-resisting-tehran-well-tel-aviv-1017030317.

Abbas rejoices, Hamas goes quiet after Egyptian president's fall

By Noah Browning and Nidal al-Mughrabi
RAMALLAH/GAZA | Thu Jul 4, 2013

(Reuters) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas praised Egypt's military on Thursday for toppling President Mohamed Mursi and his Muslim Brotherhood, the ideological ally of Abbas's Hamas rivals.

The fall of Mursi's government deprived Hamas of a sympathetic neighbor, and may strengthen Abbas's chances of nudging Hamas toward a long-delayed reconciliation and power-sharing pact.

By intervening to remove Mursi, the Egyptian army had prevented Egypt's "slide toward an unknown fate", Abbas said.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top official in the Palestine Liberation Organization headed by Abbas, said: "This is a historic day for Egypt, and we are learning a lesson from the Egyptian example. Hamas should take note of what popular will can achieve."

Palestinians are riven by political and cultural splits that mirror Egypt's. A Hamas victory in 2006 parliamentary polls led to a short civil war which left the Islamists ruling Gaza, while Abbas's Fatah faction holds sway in the West Bank.

Hamas officials largely shunned the media on Thursday, and the movement took no position on the sudden removal of Mursi.

"We pray to God to preserve the security and the stability of Egypt and its people and to prevent bloodshed," a Hamas spokesman, Ehab Ghussein, told Reuters.

The group had seen its star rise in the Arab world following a tide of uprisings in 2011 that swept religious-inspired governments to power in Tunisia and Egypt.

The leader of influential oil-rich Gulf state Qatar, a major backer of both the Brotherhood and Hamas, visited Gaza in October bearing hefty aid gifts. Egypt's prime minister, along with an Arab League delegation, came to the territory last November, even as Hamas and Israel fought an eight-day war.

BORDER CRACKDOWN

Hamas's muted response may signal its caution at upsetting an Egyptian military that controls Gaza border lifelines.

"It would be wrong to say relations won't be affected. Relations could become cold for a period," said Hamas official Mustafa Assawaf, who stressed he was speaking as a political analyst about future ties with Egypt's new government.

Hamas leaders and supporters greeted Mursi's election last year with delight, believing his leadership would usher in the beginning of the end of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza and a near-total international diplomatic quarantine.

But the Brotherhood, buffeted by Egypt's internal storms and exercising little authority over the security forces, furnished Hamas with few concrete advantages.

In recent weeks, Egypt's army, citing security concerns as it confronts Islamist militants in the Sinai desert, has stepped up a crackdown on border tunnels with Gaza through which food, fuel and weapons are smuggled.

The campaign has dismayed Hamas and pushed up prices in the impoverished coastal enclave.

Gaza residents say that dozens of Egyptian troops have reinforced the border areas since mass protests calling for Mursi's ouster began on June 30. The army also controls the Rafah border terminal, Gaza's main link to the outside world.

(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/07/04/uk-egypt-protests-palestinians-idUKBRE9630LM20130704.

Hamas MP praises Arab Idol winner's 'thankfulness to God'

23/06/2013

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- A Hamas MP praised Muhammad Assaf for becoming the first Palestinian to win the popular TV competition Arab Idol on Saturday night via Facebook.

MP Yahya Mousa posted on his Facebook page that he welcomed Assaf’s thanks to God and his kneeling to the ground as though in prayer when he was announced the winner.

Assaf won Arab Idol and dedicated his winning to the Palestinian people.

Later it was announced that he was to be made the first Palestinian refugee ambassador for UNRWA, the UN agency tasked with providing services to Palestinian refugees in Palestine and the Middle East.

Assaf, a 23-year-old from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, has become a household name in Palestine.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=607472.

Gazans rally with exiled Hamas chief

December 08, 2012

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas vowed to continue fighting Israel Saturday, as hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Gazans turned out to celebrate the organization's 25th anniversary.

Khaled Mashaal's visit to the Palestinian territory — a first in his lifetime of exile — underscores Hamas' rising clout and regional acceptance since its eight-day conflict with Israel last month. At the main stage in Gaza City, a roaring crowd greeted Mashaal and Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who emerged from a door built into a large model of a rocket fired at Israeli cities during the recent fighting.

Hamas' green dominated the gathering, where some children wore military uniforms and others carried guns. Masked gunmen holding automatic rifles flanked the podium where Mashaal gave a fiery speech. "We are not giving up any inch of Palestine. It will remain Islamic and Arab for us and nobody else. Jihad and armed resistance is the only way," Mashaal said, referring to holy war. "We cannot recognize Israel's legitimacy."

Mashaal said he would continue to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails — referring to a swap last year where an abducted Israeli soldier was exchanged for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The 56-year-old Mashaal, who left the West Bank as a child and now leads Hamas from the Gulf state of Qatar, entered Gaza on Friday via Egypt. Hamas has received a boost from the political ascension of its parent movement, the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, in the wake of last year's Arab Spring revolts — especially in Egypt.

It has also upped its profile as master of the Gaza Strip, leading it through the bloodiest round of fighting with Israel in four years and coming to a cease-fire arrangement in talks brokered by Egypt.

Hamas claimed victory in the conflict after holding its own despite airstrikes and maintaining an almost constant barrage of rocket attacks on Israeli cities. The Nov. 21 cease-fire stipulated Israel would stop targeting militants. That, along with unprecedented support from Egypt, allowed Mashaal to make the visit without fear of Israeli assassination, which he has narrowly escaped in the past.

Israel, the U.S. and European Union list Hamas as a terrorist organization. Israel is now holding indirect talks with the group as a result of the cease-fire arrangement.

Hamas: Abbas ignored Palestinian aspirations

Friday 23/09/2011

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Hamas said Friday that President Mahmoud Abbas' proposals to the United Nations failed to address Palestinians' aspirations, party spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

The official told Ma'an that by recognizing Israel and seeking UN membership for a Palestinian state on 22 percent of historic Palestine, Abbas "decreased" Palestinians' rights.

"The solution is to go back to comprehensive national dialogue and to achieve reconciliation and unite the Palestinians," Barhoum said.

Abbas submitted a bid for full UN membership to UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday for a state on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, signed a reconciliation agreement with Abbas' Fatah party in May, but formation of a unity government has stalled over a leadership row.

The mood among the Palestinian leadership in the Gaza Strip contrasted starkly with the West Bank, where celebratory fireworks, loud cheers, whistles and applause erupted as Palestinians watched Abbas make the biggest speech of his presidency.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said earlier Friday that Palestinians should not beg for a state. Liberation of Palestinian land should come first, he said.

Without a guaranteed "right of return" to land lost in the 1948 war which led to the creation of the Jewish state, "what is happening at the United Nations harms the dignity of our Palestinian people", Haniyeh said.

The outcome and potential side-effects of Abbas's statehood bid are far from clear.

"He (referring to Abbas) depressed us, I was expecting more. I was expecting him to say that if peaceful resistance fails, there would be armed struggle," said Hakim Abu Karsh, a lawyer living in Gaza.

Another Gaza resident, Mohammad Antar, said that the speech was very emotional.

"The speech showed strong emotions, was convincing, strong. Palestinian people should react, locally and in the diaspora," he told Reuters.

Palestinians in Gaza, unlike their West Bank residents, gathered inside homes and cafes to watch Abbas speech.

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said that despite the fact that Abbas' speech accurately described Palestinian suffering, it failed to provide the proper solutions.

"Abbas's speech was an emotional one that succeeded in describing Palestinian people's suffering but he failed in determining the solutions when he tied his going to the United Nations with negotiating with the Israeli occupation despite his stressing that negotiations have failed in the past," he said.

The United States has vowed to veto the move at the Security Council.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=422959.

Haneyya: Israeli occupation is 'in decline'

19/09/2011

GAZA, (PIC)-- Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haneyya has said that the Israeli occupation is “in decline”, and that the Palestinians benefited most from the Arab Spring.

“The Zionist occupation is in decline, in light of the disappearance of its allies who protected it over the past decades,” Haneyya said on Sunday during a graduation ceremony at Al-Aqsa University near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

In the speech, the premier also condemned the entry of ultra-Orthodox Jews into Al-Aqsa Mosque earlier that day, saying: “Al-Aqsa (Mosque) today is being exposed to attempts by Zionists to desecrate and break into it, in a desperate attempt to change the features of Jerusalem and take it from the Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims.”

Source: The Palestinian Information Center.
Link: http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7WyvUO7oGjxsTB3%2b%2bnp7JpqtS3Y1EKtDi%2bj49tib62LYI3p%2b9nee6nrt5%2b8b7TY8Mu0t2hambNy0fShLTLGw5ucrfWFjO%2fdyzgZbXEl5%2bZl0%3d.

Hamas calls on PA to "reconsider" peace process with Israel

May 22, 2011

Gaza City - The de-facto Hamas government in Gaza on Sunday called on the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to reevaluate its stance in favor of peace negotiations with Israel.

'The Palestinian Authority (PA) is asked to seriously reconsider and reevaluate its positions,' Gaza's Foreign Ministry, led by the Islamist movement, said in a statement.

It should do so following remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.

On Friday, Netanyahu said after meeting US President Barack Obama that Israel would not withdraw to the borders of the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967.

'This clearly shows that Israel continues with its hostile policies, which reject any peaceful solution whatever its shape and content,' said the Hamas Foreign Ministry statement.

'For Netanyahu, the priority is to build more settlements, annex more lands and change the demographic features of the Palestinian territories to impose facts on the ground,' it said.

Hamas refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist and has demanded a Palestinian Islamist state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Its leaders have said in recent years that it would be willing to temporarily accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza only, not in exchange for an end to the conflict, but in return for a long-term truce lasting several generations.

Short-lived direct peace talks between the Netanyahu government and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of the PA, were suspended late last year, after Israel did not meet a Palestinian demand to extend a construction freeze in Israeli settlements.

Hamas and Abbas, of the secular Fatah party, had been feuding for years, causing a de-facto split between Gaza and the West Bank. But the rivaling parties reconciled earlier this month, with Abbas contemplating a request to the United Nation General Assembly for recognition of Palestine according to its 1967 borders.

Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the Six-Day War of 1967.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1640686.php/Hamas-calls-on-PA-to-reconsider-peace-process-with-Israel.

Hamas agreed to Fayyad as finance minister in new unity government

AFP, Sunday 22 May 2011

The Hamas movement accepts Salam Fayyad as finance minister in the new National Unity government but reject him as prime minister.

The Hamas movement has accepted the appointment of Salam Fayyad as Minister of Finance in the new transitional Palestinian unity government, Palestinian Safa news website reported on Sunday. Fayyad is currently Prime Minister of the Palestinian government in Ramallah.

The website reported that a senior Fatah official said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent several messages to Hamas leaders in the past few days urging them to accept Fayyad as prime minister or finance minister.

“President Abbas urged Hamas leaders not to take any hasty decisions that might give Israel an excuse to convince the international community to boycott the Palestinian authority,” the source said.

He added that Hamas leaders said the movement does not mind putting the appointment of Fayyad as finance minister on the negotiation table; however, the movement needed guarantees from President Abbas that there would be no crackdown on movement figures or interests in the West Bank in the future.

Other Palestinian sources added that US President Barack Obama’s recent speech convinced Palestinian leaders that the new unity government must include technocrats who have the approval of the international community.

Source: Ahram.
Link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/12686.aspx.

'Turkey could host mediation talks between Fatah and Hamas'

22 May 2011, Sunday / CUMALI ÖNAL, CAIRO

Chief Fatah representative Azzam al-Ahmed, who chaired reconciliation talks with Hamas, has said Turkey could very well be the venue for the next round of talks aimed to solve differences between two Palestinian groups.

“Turkey is a brotherly country, not just a friend. We need Turkey more than ever and Turkey needs to be more active,” he told Today’s Zaman, adding that Turkey could very well bring the Palestinian sides together in its own country.

Al-Ahmed dismissed suggestions that Egypt would not want Turkey to take a leading role. “Egypt is no longer the same Egypt.” he said. “We also believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that our martyrs are Turkey’s martyrs.

Whatever upsets us also upsets Turks. Turkey has every right to assist the Palestinians,” he explained.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was not so enthusiastic to amplify Turkey’s role in mediation talks, however. Speaking to reporters in Damascus last month after a meeting with Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal, he said, “Egypt has made very valuable contributions on this issue. We have not been attempting to bring the role it [Egypt] played to Turkey. We believe that, with the latest change in the region, Egypt will make many more valuable contributions on the Palestine issue in particular. We believe that we will be engaged in efforts that are not different alternatives but complementary to each other.”

On May 3, both factions signed an Egypt-brokered reconciliation pact agreeing to form a national unity government. The accord, signed in Cairo, ended a four-year rift between the two groups. The differences between the two sides are still being worked out. Al-Ahmed said some of the talks will be held in Moscow at the invitation of Russia. “Turkey could very well invite us to hold talks there as well,” he said, adding that

Turkey has much more clout in the Palestinian issue because of religious, cultural and historic ties.

Al-Ahmed asked Turkey to apply pressure on both sides and positively engage in discussions through dialogue. “Turkey should not hesitate to exert pressure on both sides,” he underlined. Looking back at the past, he said, Turkey has had more contact with Hamas than Fatah. “Turkey could have played an active role in the Palestinian issue but was slow to react. Today, however, it can play a larger role,” he explained.

The chief Fatah representative also blamed Syria for not helping reconciliation talks. “To the extent that the old Egyptian regime played a negative role in talks, Syria was also a negative factor,” he said.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-244745-turkey-could-host-mediation-talks-between-fatah-and-hamas.html.

Hamas denounces Greece's Flotilla II ban

GAZA, July 2 (KUNA) -- The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) strongly condemned Saturday the Government of Greece for stopping the Freedom Flotilla II, which carries humanitarian aids, from sailing to the Israeli-sieged Gaza Strip.

Hamas said in a statement released here Saturday Greece's decision to stop the humanitarian Flotilla is surely a result of Israeli pressure, something which violates all international laws.

Hamas called on the European Union (EU) and humanitarian organizations to pressure Greece to allow the Freedom Flotilla II to sail towards Gaza.

In its statement, the movement also urged all world countries to combat the Israeli siege on Gaza.

Greece had announced it would prevent Gaza-destined aid vessels heading to the Palestinian enclave, which outraged the organizers.

A US ship is part of the Freedom Flotilla II; carrying over 40 international activists.

Source: Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
Link: http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2177608&Language=en.

Hamas: Rafah opening will not clear Israel of responsibility

Sunday 19/06/2011

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The opening of the Rafah crossing should "improve relations with our brothers in Egypt," Hamas politburo Osama Hamdan told Ma'an on Thursday.

Speaking with Ma'an radio, the official said that regardless of the improvements made to life in the coastal enclave via the Rafah terminal, "we do not want to clear the occupation of its responsibility towards Gaza."

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=397991.

Hamas in Gaza: 'End Zionist project in Palestine'

By IBRAHIM BARZAK | AP
May 15, 2011

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: A Hamas leader affirmed the group’s hard-line principles in a speech to thousands of Muslim worshipers Sunday, as they commemorated the uprooting of Palestinians during the 1948 war over Israel’s creation.

Palestinians mark the occasion this year “with great hope of bringing to an end the Zionist project in Palestine,” Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Hamas government in Gaza, told about 10,000 people at a Gaza City mosque.

Haniyeh’s apparent reference to Israel’s destruction could prove embarrassing for Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He recently reconciled with Hamas after a four-year split and is trying to market the Islamic militants to the international community as an acceptable political partner.

Marches commemorating the 1948 events, known in Arabic as “nakba,” or the “catastrophe,” were also planned in the Abbas-ruled West Bank and in Arab towns in Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven out during the fighting more than six decades ago. The dispute over the fate of the refugees and their descendants, now several million people, remains at the core of the Mideast conflict.

Israeli security forces were on high alert Sunday, and the Israeli military sealed the West Bank for a day, barring Palestinians from entering Israel.

Haniyeh launched the nakba commemorations with a dawn sermon at Gaza City’s Al-Omari Mosque.

He said Palestinians have the right to resist Israeli occupation and will one day return to property they lost in 1948. “To achieve our goals in the liberation of our occupied land, we should have one leadership,” Haniyeh said, praising the recent unity deal.

As part of the that agreement, Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah movement are to share power in a transitional government until elections are held next year. The US and Europe consider Hamas a terrorist group and have said they will only deal with it if it renounces violence, recognizes Israel and honors previous peace commitments made by the Palestinians.

Haniyeh reiterated Sunday that his movement would not recognize Israel at the outset.

However, Hamas leaders are often vague or issue contradictory statements about the group’s political aims.

In recent weeks, some in the group have spoken of reconciliation with the West and a halt to armed hostilities with Israel, and even hinted at some sort of political accommodation with the Jewish state.

While Israel is not convinced, there are hopes in some Palestinian circles that the Iran-backed group could become a more accepted part of the Mideast diplomatic equation.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article405249.ece.

Hamas, Fatah delegates to hold talks in Cairo

RAMALLAH, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Delegations from Hamas and Fatah, the major Palestinian factions, are heading for Cairo Saturday to hold the first high-level meeting after they signed an agreement of reconciliation earlier this month.

The meeting will focus on the formation of the technocratic unity government according to the Egyptian-brokered deal the two rivals signed, an official from Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) told Xinhua.

Fatah will try to persuade Hamas to accept Salam Fayyad, the head of the West Bank-based government, to lead the new government that will also rule the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua.

Fayyad, the western-educated economist, enjoys an international credibility and may succeed to reduce the level of isolation on the government that would be formed with Hamas.

The new agreement allows President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, based in the West Bank, to enter in alliance with Islamic Hamas movement, which the United States and most of European countries classify it as a terrorist group.

Meanwhile, the PLO official said that Hamas "delivered positive signals" about nominating Fayyad for the upcoming government.

The official expected that Hamas and Fatah will agree on the new government and its members by Monday.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/14/c_13874962.htm.

Fatah, Hamas in Cairo soon for talks over forming new cabinet

by Saud Abu Ramadan, Fares Akram

GAZA, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of Islamic Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah party are to head to Cairo Monday for bilateral talks, sponsored by Egypt, on forming a new independent Palestinian national unity government.

Azzam el-Ahmed, Fatah delegation chief told Xinhua that his party's delegation will hold the first meeting with Hamas delegation on Monday in Cairo over forming the new cabinet and implementing the inter-reconciliation agreement reached in Egypt on May 4.

"We will discuss the practical steps and the timetables for implementing the reconciliation agreement. The priority of the implementation will be for forming the new technocrats' cabinet that will run the internal Palestinian affairs for one year until the general elections are held," said al-Ahmed.

Following around four years of internal division between Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, and Abbas's Fatah party, the two groups together with eleven minor Palestinian factions signed last week an Egyptian-drafted pact of reconciliation.

Earlier on Wednesday, local media reports quoted well-informed sources as saying that Fatah and Hamas agreed that Abbas will be the prime minister of the new cabinet, while Hamas premier Ismail Haneya and Palestinian premier in the West Bank Salam Fayyad will be his deputies.

Al-Ahmed denied the reports, adding that "such reports are inaccurate and untrue. We haven't yet discussed any details and we haven't yet agreed upon the names of those who will be in the new government." Hamas had also denied that it had agreed on Fatah on anything related to the new cabinet.

"Such an agreement is not in our considerations at all because it contradicts with the reconciliation agreement," al-Ahmed said. "Leaking such roamers on the names of the new cabinet and the mechanism of forming it aims at undermining the efforts to finalize the reconciliation."

Fatah and Hamas agreed in Cairo to form a new national unity government where its Prime Minister and all its ministers are technocrats. Despite the leaked information, Fatah leader Nabil Shaath told a local Gaza-based Radio station that there are no problems facing the formation of the government.

"The nominee to be the prime minister must be agreed upon, and this person has to be an accepted person to the Palestinians, to the Arabs and to the West," said Shaath, adding that the new government has lots of missions that will prepare for the future of the Palestinian people.

Meanwhile, al-Ahmaed had earlier revealed to the Ramallah-based al-Ayyam daily on Wednesday that leaders of Hamas and Fatah party decided to hold the municipal elections in the Palestinian territories at the same time in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

El-Ahmed said that it was agreed to postpone holding the elections decided several months ago by the government of Fayyad in Ramallah. This decision came after the two movements suddenly reached an initial agreement for reconciliation in Cairo last week.

He said that it was agreed to demand the upcoming technocratic government to postpone the elections so they are held simultaneously in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The Palestinian Central Elections Commissions (CEC) said it can run the elections in July in the West Bank, but needs more time to prepare for holding them in Gaza. The CEC agreed that voting in Gaza and the West Bank at the same time is possible after July.

Meanwhile, Nafez Azzam, a senior Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza said his movement would join the municipal elections and the elections of the Palestinian National Council (PNC).

"The Islamic Jihad will not join the presidential and legislative elections because they are an outcome of Oslo peace accords that the movement still opposes," said Azzam.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/12/c_13872057.htm.

Fatah and Hamas leaders to head to Cairo for cabinet talks

May 11, 2011

Gaza - Leaders of Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party will head to Egypt at the weekend to begin talks on forming a new cabinet, under the terms of the reconciliation deal they signed a week ago, a Hamas official said Wednesday.

Under the reconciliation deal, the Islamist Hamas and the secular Fatah will set up an interim government of technocrats.

Salah al-Badaweel said that once the new government is formed, it will also work to rebuild the Palestinian security organizations, in addition to laying the groundwork for elections to be held next year.

'An Arab committee that includes Egyptians and other Arab officials has been formed to follow up the implementation of the reconciliation pact reached in Cairo on May 4,' he said.

The Hamas-Fatah reconciliation pact ended a four-year-long bitter, and at times violent, rift between the two largest Palestinians factions.

Although tensions between the two movements were high once Hamas defeated Fatah in the 2006 elections, the animosity peaked in June 2007, when, in a week of bloody fighting, Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip after routing security officials loyal to Fatah and the Palestinian Authority.

The Islamist movement took control of Palestinian Authority ministries and institutions in the salient, and Abbas responded by pulling Fatah out of a short-lived national unity government.

Ever since, a Hamas government has administered the Gaza Strip and an Abbas-appointed government has run the West Bank.

Egyptian attempts to reconcile the two rivals were unsuccessful until two weeks ago, when Hamas and Fatah representatives reached agreement on the issues dividing them.

The reconciliation agreement was signed in Cairo on May 4.

The Hamas and Fatah leaders will now meet in Cairo on Saturday.

Source: Monsters and Critics.
Link: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1638451.php/Fatah-and-Hamas-leaders-to-head-to-Cairo-for-cabinet-talks.