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Egypt fails to gather PA, Hamas for reconciliation talks

April 20, 2018 at 2:26 pm

General labourers, fishermen and farmers gather to call for a successful Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, on September 24, 2017 in Gaza [Mohammad Asad / Middle East Monitor]

Egypt has failed to hold a joint meeting between the Hamas and Palestinian Authority (PA) delegations in Cairo.

Fatah leader and member of the PA Ayman Al-Raqab told ERM News yesterday that the Hamas delegation visit to Cairo came at the request of the Egyptian authorities in order “to salvage the reconciliation from failure” especially after the PA had increased its demands and requested an “abrupt handover” for the Gaza Strip.

Egypt had hoped to convey the PA’s request to host the Palestinian National Council (PNC) meeting on 30 April without the participation of Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

Yesterday the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the second largest faction in the Palestinian Liberation Organisation after Fatah, announced that it will not attend the PNC meeting because Hamas and Islamic Jihad will not be able to attend.

Read: Plurality of Palestinians blame PA, Abbas for stalled reconciliation efforts

Egypt has not succeeded in easing the tensions between the two parties because of their “intransigence and unwillingness to hold any further negotiations”, the PA official said.

Official sources have reported that an Egyptian security delegation is due to head to Gaza “soon” to discuss details of the reconciliation agreement.

Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement in Cairo in October in an attempt to advance reconciliation efforts and restore the PA’s governing authority in Gaza, but failed to make progress in the aftermath of US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.