April 29, 2011

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Hamas chief Khaled Masha'al will meet President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo on Thursday to sign a unity deal, said representative of independent politicians Yaser Wadeiyah.

Wadeiyah said Palestinian factions would hold meetings in Cairo on Tuesday and Wednesday. Abbas and Masha'al would arrive in the Egyptian capital on Wednesday evening ahead of an official signing ceremony on Thursday.

It will be the first time the two men have met since the Islamist movement Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, ousting Fatah from the coastal territory after a week of bloody street battles.

Abbas last meet with the exiled Hamas chief, based in Damascus, at the end of April 2007, just six weeks before the battles which dramatically worsened the bitter split between their two factions.

Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmad said the reconciliation agreement would be signed at the Arab League headquarters, and that Palestinian factions would also be present.

Al-Ahmad headed a Fatah delegation in talks with Hamas, which on Wednesday resulted in a surprise unity deal.

The secular Fatah party which dominates the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and Gaza's Islamist rulers agreed to form a transitional government ahead of elections to take place within the next year.

The announcement sparked a firestorm of criticism from Israel, which said it would damage chances for peace, but Abbas said the interim government would not dictate policy when it came to negotiations with Israel, which would remain the mandate of the Palestine Liberation Organization that he heads.

The Egyptian government on Thursday invited Palestinian factions to Cairo to ratify the signing and to approve mechanisms to implement the agreement.

Egypt would be represented at the signing by Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi and Intelligence chief Murad Muwafi, Wadeiyah said, adding that Arab League representatives would also attend.

Islamic Jihad welcomed the unity announcement, but said it would not participate in the transitional government, senior politburo member Mohammad Al-Hindi said Friday.

Al-Hindi said Islamic Jihad rejected any participation with a government based on the foundations of the Palestinian Authority, which was an outcome of the Oslo Accords.

Washington sought a return to talks, but Al-Hindi said negotiations had only increased illegal settlement expansion and led to the siege of Gaza.

He added that ending the division between Hamas and Fatah was a very important step, but said a national political program agreed by all factions was still needed.

The real test of the agreement would be if the Palestinian Authority would end security coordination with Israel, he said.

Islamic Jihad would review the details of the agreement with its leaders in Gaza, the West Bank, in Israeli jails and abroad, Al-Hindi said, before deciding whether to attend the ceremony in Cairo.

Palestine's People's Party would send a delegation to Cairo headed by secretary-general Bassam As-Salhi, politburo member Walid Al-Awad told Ma'an.

Awad said he "expected that Israel and the United States will escalate their campaign against the unity agreement," and called for all Palestinian parties to be "cautious and to insist to go forward until national unity is achieved."

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine confirmed they received an invitation, saying their delegation will be headed by DFLP Secretary General Nayef Hawatmeh.

On Thursday, Hamas leader Ismail Radwan said that a final reconciliation deal would be signed in the presence of party leaders as a "practical response" to Israeli threats attempting to derail the process.

"We can best deal with the threats by signing and implementing the agreement," Radwan said in a statement which congratulated Egypt on its work in mediating the deal.

Tensions between Fatah and Hamas date back to the start of limited Palestinian self-rule in the early 1990s. They worsened dramatically in 2007 when Hamas forces ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip after a week of deadly clashes, cleaving the Palestinian territories into hostile rival camps.

Revolutions overthrowing unrepresentative regimes across the Middle East took root for Palestinians in a call end the rivalry, and since March 15, protesters demanding Palestinian unity came onto the streets, camped out in public squares, and held hunger strikes.


AFP contributed to this report