Rival Palestinian factions kicked off reconciliation talks

Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah have kicked off unity talks in the Egyptian capital. The Palestinian leadership has been divided between Fatah and Hamas since 2006,

ID: 49694 | Date: 2017/10/11
Senior Hamas delegate Izzat Reshiq said on his Twitter account of the three-day talks that began on Tuesday.


“We meet in Cairo full of hope to draw and lay down a roadmap” for national reconciliation, he said, adding, “Unity and national reconciliation among all our Palestinian people is our strategic option to move forward.”


The Palestinian leadership has been divided between Fatah and Hamas since 2006, when the latter scored a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has ever since been running the coastal enclave, while Fatah has been based in the autonomous parts the Israeli-occupied West Bank.


During the talks in Cairo, the two sides are expected to examine ways to implement a 2011 agreement brokered by Egypt, under which 3,000 Fatah security officers would join a Gaza police force over the course of a year.


Previous reconciliation attempts by the two sides have failed.


In September, however, Hamas said it had accepted key reconciliation conditions offered by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and underlined its “desire to achieve national unity.”


On October 2, the Authority's administration, led by Prime Minister Rami al-Hamdallah, held its meeting in Gaza for the first time since 2014.