FACTIONS MEET IN GAZA DISCUSS NATIONAL PALESTINIAN RECONCILIATION

Gaza city, 21 Shafar 1435/23 Desember 2013 (MINA) – A meeting between three factions was held in Gaza Saturday for a discussion about national Palestinian reconciliation.

Reported by Maan News Agency, Leaders from Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine were present, PFLP leader Kayed al-Ghoul said.

Hamas called the meeting to discuss ways in which reconciliation with the Palestinian Authority could be achieved, al-Ghoul said.

He added that the PFLP called for PA President Mahmoud Abbas to form a unity government and hold elections within the next six months.

The leaders also discussed a program for proportional representation of each faction in the legislative council, guilds, and other institutes.

Present at the meeting were leaders Ghazi Hamad, Sami Abu Zuhri, Abu Bakr Nofal, and Jamal Abu Hashim from Hamas; Rabah Mhanna, Kayed al-Ghoul, and Mohammad Touman from the PFLP; and Saleh Zeidan and Saleh Nasser from the DFLP.

On Thursday, senior PLO official Mohammad Shtayyeh said that the PA was ready for reconciliation with Hamas “at any price.”

Earlier that day, Gaza government Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called on Abbas to meet with Hamas to discuss reconciliation in line with an agreement reached in Cairo in 2012.

The division between Fatah and Hamas began in 2006, when Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections.

In the following year, clashes erupted between the two factions, leaving Hamas in control of the Strip and Fatah in control of parts of the occupied West Bank.

The groups have made failed attempts at national reconciliation for years, most recently in 2012, when they signed two agreements — one in Cairo and a subsequent one in Doha — which have as of yet been entirely unimplemented. (T/P015/P04)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)