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Fatah, Hamas ready to establish National Unity Government, official says

February 7, 2024 at 3:18 pm

Senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, attends by video conference a meeting with deputy Hamas chief Saleh Arouri (unseen) discussing Israel’s plan to annex parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on 2 July 2020. [Abbas Momani/AFP via Getty Images]

Hamas and Fatah are discussing an agreement to form a National Unity Government to facilitate the construction of Gaza after Israel ends its genocidal war on the enclave, Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee, Jibril Rajoub, said yesterday.

The agreement was discussed during the recent meeting held between Rajoub and the head of Hamas’s political bureau Ismail Haniyeh in the Qatari capital, Doha.

In an interview with Al-Sharq TV yesterday, Rajoub added: “I met with Ismail Haniyeh and several members of the political bureau of Hamas, and I presented these ideas, and there is a common ground that can be developed.”

He explained that ending the division and forming a national unity government requires a meeting between the Fatah and Hamas movements, followed by a meeting of all political forces, based on three principles: “The unity of Palestinian territories (the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem), agreement on the foundations of a political solution, ending the war on Gaza, Israeli withdrawal and lifting the siege, and forming a National Unity Government.”

He clarified that the members of the government required to rebuild the Gaza Strip “must be credible, capable of action and movement, and the government must have the trust of the citizens and the blessing and agreement of all factions of national work, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.”

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