CAIRO/GAZA: Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah yesterday restarted their long deadlocked reconciliation talks in Cairo, incorporating new Egyptian ideas, said participants.
Nabil Shaath, a senior Fatah negotiator, said the Egyptian suggestion concerned the formation of the government and its political program. Talks broke down earlier this month mainly over the issue of the extent Hamas would abide by past Palestinian accords with Israel.
Ali Barakeh, a senior Hamas official in Damascus, said that Fatah’s cooperation with the US and submission to its ideas about the Middle East peace process were the main obstacle to a Palestinians reconciliation. “If Fatah doesn’t submit to ... US pressure, we could within hours reach a comprehensive solution for all pending issues,” he said.
Meanwhile, several Palestinian political factions including the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestinian (DFLP) yesterday criticized major factions Hamas and Fatah for excluding them from the latest round of unity talks, which began yesterday in Cairo.
“Bilateral dialogue means monopoly and exclusion of others. It is a call by both Hamas and Fatah to divide the authority amongst themselves, excluding others components of the Palestinian people,” said the factions in a joint statement issued in Gaza.
The statement also cited past bilateral agreements in its critique, noting that the 2007 Hamas-Fatah unity government collapsed a few months later into bloody infighting.
— With input from agencies
