Abbas asks Ghannouchi to mediate between Palestinian factions

The Tunisian Ennahda movement, a moderate Islamist political party, said that its leader Rached Ghannouchi will act as a mediator between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas. The decision is based on a request from the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

According to the spokesman of the movement in Tunisia Ziyad Al-Azari, the movement is “keen on facilitating Palestinian unity and will continue to do so whenever the opportunity arises in any other parts of the region.”

He pointed out that the decision came after an explicit request from Abbas to intervene to help achieve Palestinian unity, and that Ghannouchi is currently involved in efforts in this respect.

Abbas’s request was submitted by Fatah’s Jibril Rajoub on Wednesday.

Ennahda said in a statement on Thursday that Rajoub affirmed Fatah’s readiness to offer any concessions required for the unity of Palestine, following the example of Ennahda in Tunisia.

Ghannouchi had earlier stated that any internal Palestinian dispute “would not serve the most important cause of the Muslim world,” vowing to help with finding solutions for any breach of the latest Hamas-Fatah agreement.

On April 23, Hamas and Fatah signed a unity agreement which stipulated an end to Palestinian division and the holding of parliamentary and presidential elections. The agreement led to the formation of a unity government whose members were sworn in before Abbas on June 2 in Ramallah.