CAIRO: Egyptian-brokered talks aimed at reconciling feuding Palestinian factions have been delayed, state news agency MENA quoted a senior Egyptian official as saying yesterday.
“Palestinian reconciliation talks scheduled for Feb. 22 have been delayed for a short period because more discussions are needed,” the unnamed official said.
The talks are part of an Egyptian-proposed plan to end Israel’s massive three-week offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December and January that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians.
Its initiative called for an immediate Gaza cease-fire, followed by meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials to secure a long-term ceasefire, and the reconciliation talks.
A long-running feud between Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah faction exploded in June 2007 when Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip after more than a week of deadly street battles.
Hamas beat Fatah in parliamentary elections in January 2006 but its government was boycotted by Israel and much of the international community because it would not recognize Israel or renounce violence.
Egypt last tried to reconcile Palestinian factions in November, with the aim of forming a government of national unity acceptable to the international community.
But Hamas withdrew from those talks at the last minute, saying Fatah forces were continuing to arrest Hamas members in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Hamas has said any truce must include the opening of Gaza’s border crossings, which Israel has closed to all but humanitarian aid since the Hamas seized power.
Meanwhile, a report said the European Union will grant the UN agency for Palestinian refugees 41 million euros ($51 million) to meet humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip.
The contribution was announced by European Commission Representative for the West Bank and Gaza Strip Christian Berger at a closed-door meeting of the UN Refugee and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Amman on Tuesday, a joint statement said yesterday.
Berger said UNRWA, which cares for some 4.3 million refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, has already received 19 million euros out of the total amount.
“We have already mobilized 18 million euros... as a response to the dire humanitarian situation caused by the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip. We are also contributing one million euros to help with UNRWA’s ongoing reform plans,” he said.
“We will mobilize a further 22 million euros in the near future.” UNRWA Commissioner General Karen Abu Zayd said the agency’s aid programs face a $52 million shortfall this year. “Support... has never been so important in light of our human development and relief work in the wake of the Gaza conflict,” she said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad says he’ll propose to an upcoming pledging conference on rebuilding Gaza that the aid be sent directly to the needy.
Fayyad says hundreds of millions of dollars alone are required for rebuilding thousands of houses damaged or destroyed in Israel’s recent offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers. Fayyad proposes sending the aid directly to each homeowner rather than distributing it through the Hamas government, his rival.
