Nabil Shaath, a
member of Fatah Central Committee, said South Africa's representative to the
Palestinian Authority, Ted Pekane, and Alexander Boraine, a special envoy for
these talks, met the Palestinian representatives.
Shaath said that the Palestinian side
comprised of comprised of himself along with Azzam Al-Ahmed and Najat Abu Baker
from Fatah, Mustafa Al-Barghouthi, secretary-general of the Palestinian
National Initiative, Qais Abdulkarim of the Democratic Front for the Liberation
of Palestine, Monib Al-Masri, the head of the Palestine forum and a prominent
Palestinian businessman and other independents.
He added that the
meeting aimed at learning from the South African experience in ending the
internal strife and the apartheid, on the assumption that internal Palestinian
unity is necessary to successfully fight the Israeli occupation.
Boraine, who
served as deputy to Archbishop Desmond Tutu when the latter chaired South
Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, expressed his readiness to extend
all possibilities to achieve national unity and to end the internal Palestinian
strife.
Palestinian
sources said Boraine had been scheduled to travel to Gaza for meetings with
Hamas figures there, but the sources said Israel would not let him enter the
Strip.
On Wednesday,
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he will send two aides to the Gaza
Strip as part of renewed efforts to achieve national reconciliation.
The mission
comprises two Gaza natives, Rawhi Fattouh and Abdullah Al-Efrangi, who are also
senior leaders in Abbas' Fatah party, Abbas' office said in a statement. The
officials will arrive in Gaza next week to meet with different factions,
including Hamas, said the statement, adding Abbas wants to see an end to the
political rift following Hamas' takeover of Gaza in 2007.
Egypt has stopped
mediating between Hamas and Fatah after the Islamic movement rejected signing a
proposal Cairo drafted last October.
Hamas and Fatah
leaders were supposed to meet Wednesday in Damascus, but Fatah insisted
changing the site due to "Syria's position against the Palestinian
Authority."
Shaath said Syrian
President Bashar Assad reprimanded Abbas during the Arab summit in Libya and
demanded that he halt peace talks with Israel. In addition, the Syrian
president reportedly accused Abbas and the Arab League foreign ministers of
succumbing to US and Israeli pressure.
"The Syrians
offended us," Shaath explained. "We can't send our representatives to
Damascus in light of what happened in Libya."
"We are ready
to go anywhere in the world to meet Hamas except for Syria. We have proposed
Beirut, Istanbul and Sana'a as possible venues. I personally prefer Yemen
because of its government's positive attitude toward reconciliation between
Hamas and Fatah."
Shaath denied that
the PA leadership was facing pressure from both Israel and the US not to strike
a deal with Hamas. "Let Hamas choose any place it wants and we will go
there, even if it’s in Zimbabwe," he contended.
Hamas legislator
Salah Al-Bardaweel said Fatah rejected a proposal to hold a meeting in the Gaza
Strip "after being threatened by the Americans."
He expressed his
party’s readiness to meet with Fatah representatives in any other location.
He also pointed
out that the Egyptians refused to host the two rival Palestinian factions for
another round of reconciliation talks.
"The
Egyptians told Hamas and Fatah to go and talk somewhere else, and to come to
Cairo only when they are ready to sign an agreement," claimed Bardaweel.
