A senior Hamas leader on Saturday said his movement has agreed with Egyptian mediators to form a Palestinian national government and reform security services as part of settling crisis with President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.
Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader who joins a delegation to meet the Egyptian mediators, said the agreement was reached during a round of talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and other officials.
Egypt has been mediating in brokering a national Palestinian reconciliation since Hamas drove out pro-Abbas forces and ousted Fatah from the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
According to Zahar, the agreement was aimed at "forming a government of national understating and reform the security services in Gaza Strip and in West Bank using the same procedures."
Hamas has set up its own security services in Gaza after it seized power there while Abbas consolidated the rule of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the West Bank.
Zahar also said that his movement has agreed on several issues, including "the political partnership, the reconciliation, reuniting the Gaza Strip and the West Bank."
Earlier, Hamas rejected an Egyptian proposal for forming a technocratic government that would exclude the Islamic movement, saying the technocratic government "jumps over" the results of 2006 parliamentary elections where Hamas scored a landslide victory.
Other outstanding issues, such as Hamas' demand of not extending Abbas' presidential term when it ends next January, would be agreed on throughout committees with the Palestinian factions.
Egypt is expected to call for a national Palestinian dialogue in November. But ahead of this, it prepares to sponsor bilateral talks between Hamas and Fatah on Oct. 25, which would be the first official meeting between the two rival movements since the rift widened last year.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article