RAMALLAH: Officials from rival Fatah and Hamas movements yesterday said that they hold true intentions to get closer to reconciliation in a new round of inter-Palestinian reconciliation dialogue that is to resume today in Cairo.
Mushier Al-Masri, a Hamas lawmaker based in Gaza Strip, said: “Hamas’ delegation bears new ideas and various options to make the Palestinian dialogue successful.”
“We are going to the dialogue with open minds and with a positive attitude and we hope to find a similar approach from Fatah,” Al-Masri added.
He said he hopes that “Fatah would free itself from the Zionist and US orders and conditions which block the way to dialogue.”
Meanwhile, a Fatah official in the West Bank rejected Hamas’ claims that his movement submits to US and Israeli orders when it comes to reconciliation with Hamas.
Amin Maqboul, a member of Fatah Revolutionary Council, said: “There are clear instructions from the higher leadership of Fatah that the dialogue must succeed in the larger interest of the people.” He added that Fatah had given up a number of conditions “that we had set after the coup,” referring to the ban Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas imposed on any attempt to hold talks with Hamas after it seized Gaza Strip.
The fresh round of inter-Palestinian dialogue will try to wrap up outstanding issues, including the two factions’ failure to agree on a political program for a unity government and differences over the electoral law and the representation system for the elections they agreed to hold by January 2010.
The unity government is sought to restore political ties to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Fatah-ruled West Bank. Fatah demands that the government abides by the Quartet’s requirements of recognizing Israel, abiding by peace deals and renouncing violence. Hamas totally refuses these demands. Fatah argues that the government must accept these conditions in order to enjoy an international recognition to end around two years of Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip and an international embargo on Hamas-led government.
