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World Jewish News
Rival Palestinian factions sign deal prohibiting internal violence
14.03.2009
Palestinian reconciliation negotiators in Cairo signed an agreement to prohibit fighting or the use of weapons to settle internal disputes, a Palestinian academic said Saturday.
The agreement was ratified as rival Palestinian factions continued intense talks to reach an agreement on broader issues such as the formation of a unity government to replace the Hamas-led government in the Gaza Strip and the Western-backed government in the West Bank formed by President Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah movement.
Yasser al-Wadia, the independent academic member of the reconciliation committee, said his committee had made great progress.
The work of the other committees - especially those dealing with the formation of a unity government and reforms in the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) - were facing several obstacles, other officials said Friday.
The Palestinian officials said that Abbas's Fatah movement has insisted during the Egyptian-hosted talks that Hamas must "abide" by existing peace agreements signed with Israel but Hamas has refused to make such a commitment.
Hamas proposed using the word "respect" instead of "abide" but this falls short of satisfying the United States, Israel and the West, who want the Islamist group to endorse peaceful settlements with Israel.
The agreements and commitments with Israel were signed by the PLO, which is currently headed by Abbas.
Islamist Hamas, which won a parliamentary election three years ago, controls the Gaza Strip which it seized in a brief, bloody civil war in 2007 from Abbas's Palestinian Authority that holds sway in the West Bank.
Israel, the United States and Western countries have refused to recognize Hamas's control of Gaza. Israel, which has imposed a blockade on the coastal territory, has demanded an end to Hamas rule before it considers easing its restrictions.
The Fatah-Hamas dispute was one of the points that prompted intervention of Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman who met leaders of the two groups late on Thursday to try to narrow differences, officials said.
"It remained a point of disagreement," said Fatah's delegate to the talks, Ashraf Goma.
Abbas, talking to reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, admitted that negotiations "had encountered difficulties."
"It requires effort and genuine will in order to reach national reconciliation. We don't want to talk about obstacles, we hope the talks will succeed," Abbas said.
Hamas delegate Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters from Cairo that differences remained. "We have not yet agreed to the agenda of the new government and there are obstacles that needed to be removed to reach a balanced formula," he said.
Fatah and Hamas formed a short-lived unity government in 2007, whose platform said it would "respect" the PLO's previous commitments. But it was not enough to prompt a lifting of an international embargo on the coastal territory.
Another obstacle Hamas says has "overshadowed" the working of five factional committees assigned to reach a deal is the continued detention of hundreds of Hamas supporters in the West Bank by Fatah security services.
Security services loyal to Abbas, who deny holding anyone on political grounds, said they freed 45 Hamas supporters on Thursday. A Hamas official confirmed 30 releases but said eight more supporters were detained on Thursday night.
"The issue has become the biggest obstacle facing chances of success of the dialogue and it laid its shadow over the entire discussion. We will never skip over this point," Barhoum said.
Источник: Haaretz
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