Palestinian factions to meet in Cairo for reconciliation push
The fate of Hamas’ vast armed wing remains unclear
RAMALLAH: Leading Palestinian political factions are to gather on Tuesday in Cairo to push ahead with reconciliation efforts, despite fundamental disputes ahead of a key Dec. 1 deadline.
The talks come as Palestinians face rising tensions with the US over the threatened closure of their office in Washington, but this is seen as unlikely to affect the outcome.
Tensions between the two largest Palestinian groups — Fatah and Hamas — have reemerged since they signed a reconciliation deal last month, but delegates hope the meeting of 13 factions could push the bid ahead.
The fate of Hamas’ vast armed wing, however, remains unclear.
Fatah, led by Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, has been at loggerheads with Hamas since the militants seized control of Gaza in 2007.
But on Oct. 12, the two parties signed an Egyptian-brokered deal which is meant to see Hamas hand back civilian power to Abbas’s internationally recognized Palestinian Authority (PA) government, which is based in the Israelioccupied West Bank, by Dec. 1.
In a crucial first step, Hamas stuck to a Nov. 1 deadline to hand over the border crossings between Gaza and its neighbors Egypt and Israel.
However, since that date, progress has appeared to stall, with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah suggesting the PA needed full security control of Gaza before further steps could be taken.
Hamas rejected that, accusing Hamdallah of seeking to change the terms of the agreement.
The Fatah- dominated Palestinian government has also refused to remove crippling measures targeting Gaza — including reducing electricity.
Palestinians and international powers hope an implemented reconciliation deal could help ease the suffering of Gaza’s two million residents, who suffer from high rates of poverty and unemployment. Multiple previous reconciliation attempts have failed.
The Cairo talks come amid a rise in US-Palestinian tensions over a threatened closure of the office in Washington of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which the international community recognizes as representing all Palestinians.
The threatened closure was apparently over a Palestinian suggestion of taking the issue of Israeli settlements on occupied land to the International Criminal Court ( ICC).
But an analyst said these tensions were not likely to influence discussions in Cairo.
“I don’t think the tensions between the PA and Washington will affect the reconciliation process,” Palestinian political analyst George Giacaman said.
“The problems that the PA is facing regarding Gaza are of a different nature: How will they cope with the financial and humanitarian situation in Gaza, how will they control the groups that Hamas struggled to control until now?”
Tuesday’s meeting brings together 13 factions, and analysts expect them all to back reconciliation.
Wasel Abu Yousef, a senior PLO official, said the talks could last until Thursday, with all factions expected to be in attendance.
PA ordered to pay for deadly attack
An Israeli judge has ordered the PA and perpetrators of a deadly 2001 attack to pay $18 million in damages to relatives of those killed, the court said Sunday.
The Jerusalem District Court named imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti as one of the seven liable to compensate relatives for their role in the shooting that killed three family members.
The ruling, handed down on Thursday by justice Moshe Drori, awarded the relatives 62 millions shekels ($18 million), which is to be divided between the PA, which would pay 40 percent, and the seven Palestinian perpetrators, who would pay 60 percent.
The attack, which took place on a West Bank highway on August 25, 2001, claimed the lives of Yaniv and Sharon Ben Shalom, a couple, and Sharon’s brother Doron Sviri.
The families had sued the PA and as well as the perpetrators, among them Barghouti.