After September, Hamas and Fatah to talk more in Cairo

Fatah, Hamas officials to meet in Cairo
Ma’an News
27.09.11

RAMALLAH — Fatah and Hamas officials are scheduled to meet in Cairo by the beginning of October for further dialogue over reconciliation talks and political issues, Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said Monday.

Al-Ahmad, who heads Fatah’s national dialogue team, said President Mahmoud Abbas wanted to move forward reconciliation efforts on his return from New York, where he submitted Palestine’s application for full UN membership on Friday.

A ban by Hamas on rallies in Gaza to support the UN bid had no influence on reconciliation efforts, al-Ahmad added.

Dozens of women defied the ban and demonstrated in support of the UN bid.

Hamas had previously said that it would not back a UN membership bid, and warned that no Palestinian leader had a mandate to sacrifice fundamental Palestinian rights.

But Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh stressed that Hamas would “not place obstacles in the way of the establishment of a Palestinian state with full sovereignty.”

Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo on May 4 and agreed to form a transitional government of technocrats to end the animosity which has split the Palestinians into two camps since 2007.

The deal stalled over a leadership row, as Hamas rejected Fatah’s nomination of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to head the interim government.