BICOM

A Palestinian official has said that Russia is working to bring about a reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas and may host a meeting between the two factions when France hosts an international peace conference later this month.

Speaking to the Jerusalem Post, Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Executive Committee member Wasel Abu Yousef said: “The Russians will host a meeting of Fatah, Hamas and other Palestinian officials in Moscow in the middle of January to discuss reconciliation.”

Ever since Hamas violently seized the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 2007, relations between Hamas and Fatah, led by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, have been bitter. There have been several attempts at reconciliation between the two factions since then, but none have come to fruition. Hamas remains in exclusive control of the Gaza Strip, while the PA is the sole authority in Palestinian areas of the West Bank.

Abu Yousef said that if Moscow does host talks between the two factions, they will coincide with a peace conference spearheaded by France, which is set to take place on 15 January in Paris. He said: “The Palestinian leadership wants to demonstrate that it is working on both the peace process through the Paris conference and reconciliation by way of the Moscow meeting.”

Delegates from 70 countries are expected to attend the Paris gathering, although Israeli and Palestinian representatives have not been invited. Israel is not in favour of the conference due to concerns that  multi-lateral forums discourage the PA from direct talks with Israel.

On Friday, Mousa Abu Marzouk, the vice president of the Hamas Politburo, told al-Ghad, a London-based Arabic-language satellite television station, that “a federation between the West Bank and Gaza Strip may be better than the ongoing division” between the two factions. Osama Qawasmeh, a Fatah spokesman said that such an arrangement would only “reinforce the division”.