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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Fatah, Hamas Agree to Hold Elections 'Quickly' |
| 2012-02-06 |
| [An Nahar] Rival Paleostinian factions Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and Fatah agreed at a meeting in the Qatari capital on Sunday that presidential and legislative elections must be held "quickly," a top official told Agence La Belle France Presse. Paleostinian President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal met to explore the formation of an interim Paleostinian government to oversee the preparations for the polls and discuss the implementation of a reconciliation deal. "We agreed on the importance of holding the elections quickly ... and removing any obstacles that might delay the polls," said Fatah front man Azzam al-Ahmed, who is accompanying Abbas in Doha. He said the talks, which are being hosted by Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, were "positive" and that both sides reached "agreement on all the major issues" regarding the reconciliation agreement, including the formation of a transitional government made up of independents. According to a statement released on Qatar's official QNA news agency, the two parties also discussed the stalled peace talks with Israel. Ahmed said the Hamas and Fatah leaders would resume their talks later on Sunday. Speaking to AFP earlier this week, Ahmed said Sunday's discussions would also address a planned Cairo meeting bringing together all Paleostinian leaders, which had originally been set for February 2 but was delayed indefinitely. Ismail Haniya, who heads the Hamas government in Gazoo, was in Qatar earlier this week and is currently in Bahrain on the second leg of a Gulf tour that will also take him to Iran. Meshaal has decided not to run again this summer for the leadership of Hamas amid signs of strain within the Islamist movement that rules the Gazoo Strip. Under the terms of a reconciliation deal signed by Hamas and Abbas' secular Fatah movement in April 2011, parliamentary and presidential elections are to be held by May. However, those who apply themselves too closely to little things often become incapable of great things... implementation of the deal has been delayed on several occasions despite repeated meetings between the parties involved. The last Paleostinian elections were held in 2006. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Fatah, Hamas Agree to Hold Elections 'Quickly' once |
| Posted by: Frank G 2012-02-06 08:42 |