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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hamas agrees to Egypt draft plan for unity |
| 2008-10-22 |
| Hamas tentatively agreed on Tuesday to an Egyptian proposal for reconciliation between the Islamist movement and the rival Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. "We will agree to the draft of the agreement and will not reject it, but there needs to be guarantees that what is agreed upon will be implemented," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told reporters. "Hamas will work towards the success of the Egyptian effort to reach a national reconciliation that protects our principles, preserves our blood and unites our people," he said. But he said Hamas would request some changes. "The draft contains positive elements, but also has some points that need to be modified and some points that need clarification from the Egyptian leadership." The two main Palestinian movements have been bitterly divided since Hamas drove Abbas's security forces from the Gaza Strip in a week of fierce street clashes in June 2007, cleaving the territories into hostile rival camps. Representatives from both sides have been invited to meet in Cairo on November 9 to discuss the Egyptian plan, which is aimed at restoring unity and resolving a looming constitutional crisis that threatens to deepen the internal rift. Hamas said that Abbas -- who was elected in January 2005 -- will cease to be president when his constitutionally mandated four-year term ends in January and that a new presidential election will have to be held. Abbas loyalists, citing a separate clause in the constitution, say that presidential and parliamentary elections must be held at the same time, which would extend his term to 2010. Under the Egyptian plan -- to which Abbas has yet to formally agree -- a "national consensus government" would be formed in a bid to lift the international blockade of Gaza and prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections. The plan also calls for the rehabilitation of independent Palestinian security forces with assistance from Arab states and the incorporation of Hamas and the hard line Islamic Jihad into the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) headed by Abbas, which is responsible for negotiations with Israel. Israel and the West have embraced Abbas as a partner in U.S.-backed peace negotiations re-launched in November 2007 but continue to blacklist Hamas as a terrorist group despite its victory in 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections. In the past the European Union and the United States have joined Israel in boycotting Palestinian governments that include Hamas, raising fears that full Palestinian reconciliation could lead to renewed international sanctions. Hamas and Fatah signed a Yemen-brokered agreement in March that was aimed at returning Gaza to Abbas's control but the initiative dissolved within days as the two groups differed over its meaning. Hamas had viewed the plan as providing a framework for national unity talks, while Fatah had viewed its implementation as a precondition for negotiations. Fatah says to accept Egypt plan for reconciliation (Xinhua) -- Nabil Shaath, chief of Fatah movement team to the inter-dialogue in Cairo, said on Tuesday his movement has positively accepted the Egyptian plan for inter-Palestinian dialogue and reconciliation. "The draft of the plan, presented to the factions, is very positive and will be a real outbreak for what Egypt has vowed to kickoff the dialogue and achieve a national unity," Shaath told the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. Shaath, who is also a member of Fatah central committee, said that Egypt considers the draft of the plan as a work paper for the comprehensive dialogue that is scheduled to be held in Cairo in the first half of next month. The goal of the comprehensive dialogue is to end the current status of political and economical split between Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas, and the West Bank, which is ruled by President Mahmoud Abbas. Shaath told Wafa that Fatah is not seeking a Hamas apology for taking the Gaza Strip by force, "but we want Hamas leaders to positively accept the Egyptian plan." The plan calls for forming a unity government that prepares forearly presidential and legislative elections, runs the daily life of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and reform the Palestinian security apparatuses. |
| Posted by:Fred |