| Place your bets, ladies and gents, on how long this agreement will last -- will they make it as far as implementation day (December 1) or melt down before then? |
[IsraelTimes] The newly signed agreement in Cairo rests on PA resuming control of Gaza but sticking points remain Hamas recognition of Israel, fate of armed wing
The two major Palestinian factions reached a unity agreement Thursday after Egyptian mediation.
Islamist group Hamas, listed as a terror group by Israel, the US and the EU, and the secular Fatah party have ruled over separate territories since a near civil war in 2007.
Here are key points of the agreement and what remains unaddressed:
- The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, which is based in the West Bank, will resume full control of Gaza by December 1 at the latest. The PA was kicked out of Gaza in a violent coup 2007 but last month Hamas agreed to hand over civilian power.
- All the major Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas, will meet in Cairo on November 21 for discussions about forming a unity government.
- The border crossings from Gaza with Israel and Egypt will be handed back to the Palestinian Authority in the coming weeks, with a November 1 deadline, according to the Fatah negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed. The crossing with Egypt may require more time for the handover.
- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Gaza for the first time in a decade in the coming weeks, according to an official from his party.
- The issue of tens of thousands of civil servants employed by Hamas will be solved by February 2018, according to Hamas’s Al-Aqsa television.
- Punitive measures taken by the PA against Gaza, including reductions in energy payments for the strip, are expected to be relieved.
Still to be resolved
- The future of Hamas’s 25,000-strong military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was not mentioned in any of the public statements or documents.
Israel has said it will reject any agreement in which Hamas, with which it has fought three wars since 2008, does not disarm, as has the United States. Israel has also demanded it end all terror activity against Israel,and release the remains of two IDF soldiers killed in the 2014 summer war between Israel and Hamas.
- Recognition of Israel was also not mentioned. The Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organization has recognized Israel, while Hamas has not as it is vowed to its destruction.
Hamas is classified as a terrorist group by the United States and European Union, and Western diplomats say they could not accept any government of which Hamas is a part unless it recognizes Israel.
A senior Paleostinian official told French news agency AFP the agreement is set to include 3,000 Paleostinian Authority coppers deployed in the Gazoo Strip and near its border crossings with Israel and Egypt by November 1.
"This effectively means the Paleostinian Authority would resume both security and civil responsibility (in Gazoo)", the official said.
Hamas: Unity deal is so we can all ‘work together against Zionist enterprise’
[IsraelTimes] Lead negotiator Saleh al-Arouri, the Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, terror chief who Israel says planned 2014 kidnapping, killing of 3 Israeli teens, explains rationale behind Paleostinian reconciliation.
Reports from Egypt Thursday, quoted by Israel Radio, said Hamas was not prepared to disarm. The Islamist terror group was said to have instead agreed, under the terms of the emerging reconciliation deal, that it would not use its weaponry unless a resort to force was approved by a joint panel. There was no immediate official confirmation of this.
Israel’s Channel 10 reported last week that Israeli officials fear Arouri’s powerful position in Hamas could lead to an upsurge in terror if Fatah-Hamas reconciliation goes ahead, since Fatah could give Hamas greater flexibility and freedom in the West Bank.
Celebrations broke out in the Gazoo Strip after the announcement of the deal on Thursday, with residents waving flags of Egypt, Paleostine, Fatah and Hamas. |