Egyptian
authorities praised both groups for their “positive attitude"
and prioritizing of Palestine's national interest.
Palestinian
groups Fatah and Hamas have agreed to political reconciliation,
according to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. “Fatah and Hamas
reached an agreement at dawn today under generous Egyptian
sponsorship," Haniyeh said in a public statement released on
the group's website.
Azzam
al-Ahmad, head of the Palestinian Authority delegation, said that
part of the agreement requires that the Rafah border crossing between
Gaza and Egypt will be administered by presidential guards operating
under Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by Nov. 1.
"Security
measures will be applied and adopted by the Palestinian Authority
where the presidential guards will be spread all over the borders,"
al-Ahmad said, according to Al-Jazeera.
While the
full extent of the agreement's details have not been officially
reported, it's believed that it also covers issues related to
administration and security.
The
agreement comes after two days of negotiations in Cairo between the
two Palestinian political groups. A source close to the Ahram journal
also reported that both groups will meet within 30 days to organize
presidential and legislative elections.
While
Egyptian authorities praised both groups for their “positive
attitude and prioritizing of national interest,” Egyptian state
TV reported that Cairo will host subsequent talks starting on Nov.
21. On that date, Fatah and Hamas will reportedly hash out the
details of an agreement that will unify their leadership into a
single entity. The goal: to exercise a cohesive administration of
Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.
It added
that the two groups have concorded to “empower the national
unity government to perform its duties in the Gaza Strip as well as
the West Bank by Dec. 1, 2017 at the latest."
Hamas and
Fatah agreed in 2014 to form a national reconciliation administration
but could not agree on the details.
Some opinion
polls have shown that if parliamentary elections were to be held now,
Hamas would win both in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the
seat of Abbas’ Palestinian Authority.
Abbas is 12
years into what was meant to be a four-year term as president and
opinion polls show him to be unpopular. He has no clear successor and
no new presidential election appears imminent.
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