BICOM

Hamas and Fatah have agreed to renew unity talks in Cairo next month to discuss ways of ending their feud. The agreement follows a series of meetings between leaders of Hamas and Fatah in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Syria over the past few days. The Cairo talks would be the first since the removal of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Khaled Abdel Majiud, Secretary General of the National Committee and Alliance of Palestinian Factions, said yesterday that Hamas and Fatah officials who met in Damascus in the past few days had reached an agreement to resume reconciliation talks in Egypt next month. According to Abdel Majiud, the Hamas-Fatah talks will focus on Abbas’s offer to travel to the Gaza Strip, the establishment of a new government and the holding of presidential and parliamentary elections.  

In related news, Azzam Ahmed, advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, said yesterday that Abbas would be willing to give up millions of dollars in US aid to the Palestinians in order for a reconciliation deal and unity government with Hamas. Ahmed added that “the Palestinians need American money, but if they use it as a way of pressuring us, we are ready to relinquish that aid.”  The US government, which lists Hamas as a terrorist organisation, in 2006 following Hamas’s electoral victory stopped direct funding to the PA; and in 2007, following the Mecca Agreement that led to a Palestinian unity government, the US temporarily suspended aid to the PA. 

In response to Ahmed’s comments, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that reconciliation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority could mean the end of the peace process. “You can’t have peace with both Israel and Hamas,” Netanyahu said, “Choose peace with Israel” he added.