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Qatar meetings will identify main issues of Hamas-Fatah reconciliation

February 4, 2016 at 12:18 pm

The Hamas-Fatah meetings taking place in Qatar will identify the main issues of mutual reconciliation, Editor-in-Chief of the Qatari Al-Sharq newspaper Jaber Al-Harami said.

Senior Hamas and Fatah delegations are due to meet in Doha on Saturday to discuss the deadlock in the mutual reconciliation.

Speaking to Al-Resalah, Al-Harami said: “The preparation meetings will decide a meeting between Hamas chief Khalid Meshaal, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah Chairman Mahmoud Abbas,” noting that the aim of these discussions is to “break the ice” between the two movements.

Al-Harami said Qatar proposed the discussions hoping to finalise previous efforts. He also said that the Palestinian cause is in urgent need for the reconciliation of the two largest factions.

Fatah hailed the Qatari efforts to forge reconciliation with Hamas however media reports point at PA acts which aim to undermine efforts leading to lifting the Israeli-led siege which has been imposed on Gaza since 2006.

Al-Harami said that any positive results in the reconciliation talks “must be reflected in the improvement of life” in the Gaza Strip.

He said: “There are external and internal sides attempting to undermine the Qatari efforts, mainly regarding electricity.” He reiterated that there are Arab sides rejecting the Turkish efforts to lift the siege on Gaza as part of a potential deal between Turkey and Israel.

He said that Qatar and Turkey are closely cooperating to ease the life of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, mainly by lifting the siege. He noted that Qatar knows very well that there is a regional and international pressure to maintain the siege on Gaza, adding that this would not affect efforts to remove it.

Egypt still has a great role to play in the Palestinian issue despite the fact it has given up its “historical” role, Al-Harami explained.