Hamas calls for a new national council under Egyptian auspices

Head of the Political Bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh (2nd R) attends a demonstration, organized to mark 70th anniversary of Nakba, also known as Day of the Catastrophe in 1948, and against US decision to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, near Gaza-Israel border on 18 May, 2018 in Gaza City, Gaza [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

Hamas Movement has stressed its adherence to national reconciliation as a strategic solution for the Palestinian people, under Egyptian auspices.

An official source in Hamas, who asked to not to be named, told Quds Press, “the process of reconciliation requires first the cancellation of the National Council which was held in Ramallah and moving towards a new national council under the auspices of an Arab state. Egypt has been suggested in this regard.”

He added: “It is required to form a national council on the basis of democracy and in accordance with the outputs of Beirut meetings and the Cairo agreement in 2011.” He pointed out that “reconciliation requires an immediate lifting of the sanctions the Palestinian Authority has imposed on the Gaza Strip.”

The same source stressed that “the establishment of reconciliation based on the 2011 agreement means the practical formation of an interim national unity government with determined tasks, mainly the elections, relieving Gaza, arranging the security and social situations in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and ending the division.”

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He added: “We are ready to support and empower this government and then we can launch the elections. Then at the end, we are with the majority and the minority,” as he put it.

In late April, the Palestinian National Council (PNC) held its first regular meeting in 22 years, in Ramallah inside the occupied West Bank, with the participation of 10 out of 11 factions, amid the boycott of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Hamas, the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (which not affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine boycotted the meetings as well.

Many political figures and forces also opposed the convening of the National Assembly in territory under Israeli occupation and without consensus between the Palestinian parties on its program and decisions.

The National Council is the highest legislative authority representing Palestinians inside and outside Palestine, and consists of 750 members.

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