After the first day of full meetings in Cairo today on national reconciliation, the main Palestinian factions — including hitherto bitter rivals Hamas and Fatah — said they had reached agreement in principle on a new government.
There is not yet agreement on what kind of new government it should be.
Maan News Agency reported this evening that “Ahmad Qurei, the leader of the Fatah delegation at the Egyptian-brokered talks, said,’This government could be formed approved by all of the Palestinian factions or could be technocrat government, or [another form of] government approved by the committees’,”referring to the panels overseeing the specifics of the reconciliation. ‘The committees will work in a balanced way through separate meetings for a specified period of time. there will be outcomes of these committees that will be implemented immediately’, said Qurei”. This report can be read in full here.
AFP is reporting here that the idea is to set up this new government — whatever it will be — by the end of March. AFP seemed to think there was some chance that such a new government might be acceptable to the same major members of the international community which boycotted the first Palestinian government after Hamas won the majority of seats in the January 2006 elections for the Palestine Legislative Council, and which continued to boycott the National Unity government formed after Saudi mediation between Hamas and Fatah. The AFP report said that “Egypt had originally called for Palestinian reconciliation talks in November, but Hamas withdrew at the last minute, complaining that Fatah was continuing to arrest Hamas members in the West Bank. The reconciliation process was relaunched by Egypt after Israel’s 22-day war on Gaza that ended last month with more than 1,300 Palestinians killed and buildings and infrastructure throughout the impoverished territory destroyed … Hopes of a positive outcome to the talks had been boosted after Wednesday’s meeting between Fatah, which heads the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, and Hamas — which is boycotted as a terrorist group by Israel and the West. A joint statement said Fatah and Hamas had each agreed to release prisoners from the rival in several stages.”
And, Haaretz reported today that “A group of former international peace negotiators on Thursday urged the world and Israel to abandon the policy of isolating Hamas and engage with the Islamist militant group. ‘The policy of isolating Hamas cannot bring about stability. As former peace negotiators, we believe it is of vital importance to abandon the failed policy of isolation and to involve Hamas in the political process’, the group said in a letter published in the British newspaper The Times. The letter said the futility of the policy had been demonstrated by Israel’s recent offensive against Hamas in Gaza. Israel, the United States and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist organization. Since the group took over the Gaza Strip in a bloody 2007 coup, the international community has largely complied with an Israeli-led blockade of the coastal territory and boycott of its rulers. But the group stated that, ‘Whether we like it or not, Hamas will not go away. Since its victory in democratic elections in 2006, Hamas has sustained its support in Palestinian society despite attempts to destroy it through economic blockades, political boycotts and military incursions’ … They also argued that the involvement in Hamas was crucial to the success of stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. ‘An Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement without Hamas will not be possible’, they wrote, quoting legendary Israeli military leader Moshe Dayan as saying that peace was made with enemies, not friends … Among the letter’s signatories were former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, former United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Alvaro de Soto, former leader of the Social Democratic Liberal Party of Northern Ireland John Hume, as well as former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami”. The Haaretz report can be read in full
Posted on Categories Egypt, Gaza, Palestine & Palestinians