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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Fatah: No progress in reconcilliation with Hamas |
| 2010-01-05 |
| [Ma'an] Fatah denied on Monday that progress had been made in reconciliation talks with Hamas. "There is nothing new to talk about on the national reconciliation issue," Fatah spokesman Fahmi Za'arir said. "Both sides have said a lot, but now something should be done order to get the Palestinian house in order," he added. The remarks come after Hamas' Political Bureau chief Khalid Mash'al claimed on Sunday that the two groups were "in the final stages" of the reconciliation process. "We achieved great strides toward achieving reconciliation," Mash'al told reporters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he met with that country's foreign minister. Za'arir said that Hamas was dealing with reconciliation as if it were a competition. The Fatah official also reiterated his party's argument that it was the signed an Egyptian-proposed plan to bring the two groups into a power-sharing agreement, while Hamas has not. He was echoing the words of Fatah PLC bloc chair Azzam Al-Ahmad, who told the PA news agency WAFA on Sunday, "If Mash'al means what he says, he should go to Egypt and announce his party's commitment to Palestinian reconciliation." Hamas, who won 2006 parliamentary elections, took full control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, shutting down security forces loyal to Abbas. The president then dissolved a unity government and appointed a caretaker administration in the West Bank. Mash'al's trip to Saudi Arabia followed a state visit by Abbas. US President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell will also visit the kingdom in the coming days, Reuters news agency reported. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Oh dear! And I was so looking forward to the big Paleostinian Unity celebration. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-01-05 01:46 |