Mashaal: Hamas And Fatah Must Forgive Each Other

Gaza City, 26 Muharram 1434/10 December 2012 (Ma’an/Mina) – Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal said Sunday that it was time for his party and their Fatah rivals to put their mistakes behind them.

“Hamas can’t live without Fatah and other factions, neither can Fatah live without Hamas,” the exiled party chief, on his first visit to the Gaza Strip, said during a ceremony at the Islamic University in Gaza.

“We made mistakes against each other but God puts our wrongdoing behind us, so let’s forgive each other,” Mashaal said.

Palestine is greater than any one faction, he continued. His Hamas movement has reached out to Fatah after an eight-day assault on Gaza by Israeli forces which was regarded locally as ending in victory for Hamas’ military wing.

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The parties have been locked in a bitter rivalry since Hamas won national elections in 2006. Amid worldwide tussles over allowing the party to take the reigns of government, Hamas ousted their Fatah rivals from the Gaza Strip the following year.

Since then, Gaza has been ruled by Hamas and the West Bank government controlled by Fatah.(T/R-015/R-006).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)