Fatah rejects Algeria proposal for internal Palestinian reconciliation

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks in front of a picture of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during a ceremony marking the 55th foundation anniversary of the Fatah movement, in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on 31 December 2019. [ABBAS MOMANI/AFP via Getty Images]

Before the start of Palestinian national meetings in Algiers yesterday, Fatah rejected an Algerian proposal for the internal Palestinian reconciliation, Quds Press reported yesterday.

“While the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas has accepted the Algerian proposal for the reconciliation with Fatah, the latter rejected the proposal and suggested two major changes,” an informed source told Quds Press.

The source added: “Fatah set a condition that Hamas must accept the International Quartet’s decisions and recognising that the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) is the only representative of the Palestinian people.”

According to the source, Fatah wants Hamas to recognise the PLO without seeking to make any change to it.

For its part, Hamas told the Algerian mediator that “it completely rejects Fatah’s conditions,” stating that the Quartet, which was created in 2002 by the UN, US, UK and Russia, wanted Hamas to recognise the Israeli occupation of Palestine and give up legal resistance.”

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is hosting a comprehensive Palestinian dialogue for the Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas. Talks began yesterday and are due to resume today.

READ: Algeria calls for granting Palestine full UN membership

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