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PA gives Egypt decision on reconciliation

August 29, 2018 at 12:02 pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) meets Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (R) at the Heliopolis Palace in Cairo, Egypt on 20 March 2017 [Egyptian Presidency/Anadolu]]

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has given Egypt its final decision on the reconciliation with Hamas, Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Azzam Al-Ahmad announced yesterday.

Egyptian authorities’ response was said to be “positive.”

Speaking to Voice of Palestine radio station, Al-Ahmad said that the PA’s response was based on the agreements reached in May 2011 and October 2017.

The PA message, Al-Ahmad explained, comprised the mechanisms of implementing all the reconciliation agreement clauses since what he described as “Hamas’ practical steps towards the deal had stopped following the bombing that targeted the Palestinian Prime Minister’s convoy and the country’s head of the General Intelligence Service.”

“I hope Egypt is able to deliver our response to Hamas’ leadership,” the official added.

READ: Palestinian factions, except Fatah, urge reconciliation 

“Our demands are not new, but rather based on what was previously agreed upon, including the return of ministers to Gaza to assume their work normally, ending the work of the committee assigned to study the situation of employees hired by Hamas during the division, and ending the work of committees in charge of reconciliation, public freedoms and security,” he pointed out.

The framework, Al-Azzam noted, stipulated that Egypt must be the “reconciliation’s sole sponsor”.

Our dispute with Hamas, Al-Ahmad stressed, has to be ended so we can focus on confronting what he described as the US “strategy which is bias to Israel.”

“The ceasefire agreement with Israel must be reached after the reconciliation agreement materialises,” the politician said.

“The President asserted our [PA] primary issue is the continuation of the Israeli occupation,” the PLC official added, reiterating: “we will not be able to end the occupation without achieving reconciliation.”

The Egyptian-brokered reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas was signed in October 2017 in Cairo, aiming to achieve stability within the Palestinian territories. 

Afterwards, Hamas announced the dissolution of the administrative committee in the Gaza Strip, inviting the PA to assume its duties and hold general elections. At the time, Hamas’ leadership affirmed that their announcement would comply with the Social Reconciliation Accord signed in 2011.