Palestinian Factions Begin Unity Meeting in Cairo

 
Source: Al-Manar TV, 10-03-2009

Rival Palestinian factions began a meeting in Cairo on Tuesday aimed at forming a national unity government and resolving major disputes between Hamas and Fatah, the two largest groups.
Senior delegations from Hamas and Fatah and smaller factions were due to start work in five reconciliation committees which they agreed to form last month in the Egyptian capital. The talks are expected to last for 10 days.

The meeting began with speeches by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman - who has brokered the talks - calling on the factions to work hard towards reconciliation.

But lingering distrust between the Islamic resistance Hamas rulers of Gaza and the Western-backed Fatah threatens to complicate the talks. "I want to remind you of the consequences... if there were a failure to reach an agreement," Suleiman warned the rival factions. "You all know the consequences. You have in front of you an opportunity that will not come again."

The stakes are high after "Israel's" devastating 22-day military offensive in Gaza, which ended on January 18 leaving 1,300 Palestinians dead, including 420 children and over 5300 others injured.
International donors pledged 4.5 billion dollars for reconstruction aid for the impoverished coastal strip last month. But many donor countries, backed by Abbas' government, have said they will not deal with the Hamas authorities in Gaza.

Western governments have expressed their support for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas' proposal for a government of independents and technocrats. "On the issue of the government and its program, we are not too far off," said Fatah senior negotiator Nabil Shaath, the faction's representative in the committee tasked with forming a government. "What will be the difficult questions are the tasks the government would have and one is the security issue," he told AFP.

A Hamas official has accused Abbas loyalists of continuing to arrest Hamas members in the occupied West Bank. "I say clearly: we will not sign any agreement so long as the issue of political prisoners is not resolved," he said, requesting anonymity.

Another issue is the restructuring of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the umbrella group which is internationally recognized as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people but which does not include Hamas.
Fatah and Hamas, which democratically won a majority in 2006 parliamentary elections, signed an agreement in Mecca in February 2007 to form a national unity government. That was four months before Hamas seized Gaza.

Hamas had then accused Fatah of readying a coup against it in Gaza. The committees formed by the factions are to work on creating a unity government, reforming the security services and the PLO, on organizing new presidential and parliamentary elections, and cementing reconciliation. Hamas and Fatah officials said the work of the committees will be carried out gradually over the year.