Palestinian rivals agree to end internal split for reconciliation

GAZA - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party and its rival Hamas movement agreed on Sunday to reconcile, form a unity government and prepare for the general parliamentary and presidential elections, an official Hamas statement said.

"Hamas dissolves the administrative committee and invites the consensus government of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to come to the Gaza Strip immediately to practice its missions and carry out its duties," said the statement, which was issued from Cairo.

Hamas agreed to dissolve the administrative committee it had formed in March last year to run the the Gaza Strip, the coastal enclave that Hamas has been ruling since it violently assumed control in the summer of 2007.

The formation of the Hamas committee, which was considered by Abbas to be a shadow government, caused the president's economic measures against the Gaza Strip, such as reducing 30 percent of the employee salaries, stop paying for electricity services and sending 7,000 employees to early retirement.

The Hamas announcement came after eight days of dialogue in Cairo between senior Egyptian security intelligence officials and a senior Hamas delegation, headed by the top leaders of the movement, including Ismail Haneya, Hamas Politburo chief.

On Friday, Abbas brought an official Fatah delegation to Cairo to join the reconciliation dialogue that Egypt has been sponsoring, before which Abbas chaired a meeting for Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee in Ramallah.

Hamas' statement, which consisted of four points, also said that the movement agreed to hold the general, presidential and legislative elections in the Palestinian territories, the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.

The last presidential elections were held in 2005 and legislative elections in 2006.

Resuming dialogue

It also said that Hamas was ready to respond to Egypt's invitation to resume dialogue with Fatah on the mechanisms of the full implementation of Cairo Reconciliation Agreement that was reached between the two sides in May 2011 but never carried out.

Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas' spokesman in Gaza, said in an emailed press statement that Hamas has positively responded to the Egyptian efforts, which were exerted to achieve reconciliation and ending more than 10 years of internal Palestinian division.

"This position puts President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement in front of the Egyptian efforts and in front of the Palestinian people before a real test in order to achieve our people's aspirations, achieve a real unity and a real partnership," said Barhoum.

Xinhua

(China Daily 09/18/2017 page11)