RAMALLAH/CAIRO: An American envoy sought to assure anxious Israeli leaders yesterday that US support for the Jewish state remains firm, despite a growing rift over Israeli construction in West Bank settlements and the Obama administration’s approach to peace efforts.
George Mitchell’s comments appeared aimed at tempering a very public disagreement with the new Israeli government and could reflect US awareness that pushing peace forward will not be easy if Israelis mistrust President Barack Obama. The Mideast envoy’s latest swing through the region, which is also set to include stops in the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria, comes after Obama’s landmark speech to the Muslim world last week.
Meanwhile, a senior Fatah official yesterday expected that Egypt will succeed in brokering a reconciliation agreement between his movement and Hamas in July.
Ahmed Qorei, member of Fatah Central Committee and head of the movement delegation to the Cairo-hosted inter-Palestinian dialogue, said that “Egypt is determined to end the Palestinian internal schism on July 7.”
He was referring to the date Egypt fixes to announce a Palestinian national deal to end two years of split after the rival Hamas movement ousted President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party and seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
In Cairo, an Egyptian mediator also held talks with a high-level Hamas delegation yesterday in a new push by Egypt to convince Palestinian factions to end their rift and restart the stalled Middle East peace talks.
Egypt’s powerful intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met the Hamas delegation headed by the group’s Damascus-based leader Khaled Meshaal, reported the state MENA news agency.
Suleiman held similar talks Sunday with a Fatah delegation in Cairo. “Egypt is keen to see the rift over as soon as possible in order to pave the way for the resumption of the talks,” said MENA, citing an unidentified official.
Qorei added in a press statement that Egypt intends to turn to Syria, which has an influence on Hamas, to push the Palestinian groups to sign the deal. The Egyptian efforts to reconcile the two movements were in peril as Hamas militants and pro-Abbas forces clashed twice in the West Bank city of Qalqiliyah last week, resulting in nine fatalities from both sides.
The division has complicated Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and hindered the reconstruction of Gaza after Israel’s devastating three-week offensive against the coastal strip’s Hamas rulers in December and January.
Hamas’ Gaza strongman, Mahmoud Zahar, said before meeting with Suleiman yesterday that his side wants to stop Fatah’s crackdown in the West Bank. “This is on top of our talks today,” Zahar told reporters in Ramallah.
— With input from agencies
