Fatah agrees in principle to join new Palestinian cabinet led by Hamas

Azzam el-Ahmad, head of Fatah movement in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), announced on Wednesday that his movement agrees in principle to join the new government led by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

El-Ahmad made the announcement at a joint news conference with Hamas head in the PLC Mahmoud al-Zahar at the latter's house in Gaza City after their meeting.

"The principle of participating in a Palestinian government led by Hamas movement is in principle accepted by Fatah movement, but we should first agree on a joint program of the new government," said al-Ahmed.

He told the reporters that there are no differences between the two movements at present, but he did not rule out the possibility of divergence in the future as the two movements have "different understandings on the mechanism of the new government's action".

"If we overcome these differences, we might then be able to reach together to our joint major goals," al-Ahmed said, referring to the political program of Fatah that recognizes the signed agreements with Israel.

Al-Zahar also touched the differences between the two sides, saying that "There are things that we had agreed upon, mainly the highest interests of the Palestinian people, and there are things that we still disagree."

"But I hope that we would be able to overcome these differences in the coming meetings," he added.

Meanwhile, al-Zahar disclosed that the both sides agreed during the Wednesday meeting to hold a series of coordination meetings within the coming few days after the two movements study what each side had presented to the other.

Hamas overwhelmingly defeated the long-dominant Fatah movement in the Jan. 25 Palestinian legislative election by securing 74 seats out of the 132-seat PLC.

However, both movements are politically disagreeing on the political program of each party.

Hamas has formed a committee for parliamentary dialogue with political parties, which has held a series of meetings with other political groups in Gaza during the past two days.

So far, the committee has talked with leaders of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) and Mustafa Barghouti, an independent campaigner in the Jan. 25 legislative election.

Leaders of the left-wing parties, mainly the PFLP and the DFLP, have agreed to join the new cabinet while the Islamic Jihad said no.

Source: Xinhua