CAIRO: A senior Hamas official says the leadership of the group has settled internal disagreements and approved a unity deal with its political rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.Izzat Al-Rishq, who is an aide to Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal, says that HamasÂ’ Syria-based political bureau met in Cairo Wednesday and approved the agreement.
Hamas leaders in Gaza had objected to relinquishing power to Abbas but appear to have dropped their opposition. Hamas’ leadership said on Wednesday that the reconciliation deal between the rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas must be implemented in a “thorough and honest” way.
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The long-time rivals have been struggling to implement the terms of the deal, which calls for the formation of an interim government of independents to pave the way for presidential and legislative elections within a year. Representatives from both parties have met multiple times to try to hammer out a final line-up for the government and agree on who would head it.
A lengthy disagreement about the post of prime minister appeared to have been resolved in early February, when Abbas and Meshaal signed a deal in the Qatari capital Doha that put the president at the head of the interim government.
The line-up of the government was to have been announced shortly afterwards, but the Doha agreement was met with opposition from Gaza-based members of Hamas as well as some officials in the Fatah-controlled West Bank.