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A West Bank delegation sent by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas left Gaza on Thursday after hammering out a reconciliation deal between rival faction Hamas and Hamas.
Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh personally bid the delegation farewell on Thursday evening. He said he had briefed a number of foreign states on the reconciliation talks – the first to produce a decisive outcome since 2007.
The delegation crossed into Israel via the Beit Hanoun (Erez) border crossing en route to Ramallah.
Haniyeh also hailed the role played by Egypt, which brokered a 2011 deal that on Wednesday the rival factions agreed to finally begin implementing.
Following hours-long talks, representatives of the two groups agreed to form a unity government within five weeks and hold simultaneous presidential and parliamentary polls later this year.
Haniyeh said both sides were now ready to implement two previous agreements signed between Fatah – the largest component of the Palestinian Liberation Organization – and Hamas in Cairo and Doha.
In 2011, Hamas and Fatah hammered out a reconciliation deal under Egyptian sponsorship. The following year, the two sides agreed to form a unity government – to be headed up by Abbas – to pave the way for parliamentary polls.
The terms of that agreement, however, were never implemented.
Ties have remained strained between Hamas – which governs the Gaza Strip – and Fatah – which runs the Palestinian Authority – since 2007, when Hamas routed pro-Fatah forces and seized control of the entire strip.
Continued conflict between Hamas and Fatah obliged the former to set up its own government in Gaza, while Fatah did the same in Ramallah in the West Bank.
Earlier this year, Haniyeh declared 2014 to be "the year of Palestinian reconciliation," announcing that Fatah members who fled the Gaza Strip in 2007 were welcome to return, with the exception of those charged with wrongdoing.
By Ola Attalah
englishnews@aa.com.tr - Gazze
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