Four years of bitter Fatah-Hamas infighting comes to end at Cairo ceremony
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the Arab League during a news conference in Cairo on May 3, 2011.
Photo by: Reuters
Fatah's foreign policy includes negotiating toward a peace agreement with Israel, something which Hamas opposes.
Abbas said during the signing ceremony that the Palestinians had turned the "black page" of division between Hamas and Fatah.
A Palestinian journalist reporting from the event told the Nazareth-based A-Shams radio that Hamas' exiled political leader Khaled Mashaal was supposed to speak directly after Abbas upon the signing of the unity deal.
The leaders of the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to sign a reconciliation agreement to end four years of bitter in fighting sparked by Hamas' bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
Fatah leader Abbas and Hamas' Meshal were to sign the agreement in the presence of representatives of Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt's governing body since the January revolution in that country. Egypt is considered the patron of the reconciliation process and the agreement.
Officials from all the Palestinian factions had earlier signed the deal that Meshaal and Abbas were expected to endorse at the ceremony.
"The signing has been done, everyone signed. Today is the crowning of this achievement," said senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath, speaking shortly before the ceremony.
In a symbolic step before the ceremony on Wednesday, Hamas allowed Fatah-controlled Palestine TV to broadcast from Gaza for the first time since the 2007 takeover. The station's Gaza correspondent, Adel Zaanoun, discussed the excitement that Gazans felt about unity and invited Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader, onto the program.
"Today we end a dark chapter in our recent history," Radwan said. "It's time now to work together ... With the support of our people and the Arab brothers, we will make this agreement work."
Also for the first time, Hamas permitted residents to wave yellow Fatah banners along with the green Hamas flags. Fatah displays had been banned by Hamas police in the past.
Published 13:15 04.05.11
Latest update 13:15 04.05.11
Latest update 13:15 04.05.11
Deal brokered by Egypt officials was threatened by last-minute row over foreign policy of new Palestinian unity government.
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The leaders of warring Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas met in Cairo on Wednesday to sign a reconciliation agreement that ends four years of bitter strife. The ceremony finally got underway after a last-minute row over foreign policy threatened to scupper the deal.
The row that threatened to hold up the Egypt-brokered agreement signing of the reconciliation deal began when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insisted on being the sole speaker at the event. The move reportedly illustrated his expectance to be the head of the interim unity government, which would allow him to control Palestinian foreign policy.
The leaders of warring Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas met in Cairo on Wednesday to sign a reconciliation agreement that ends four years of bitter strife. The ceremony finally got underway after a last-minute row over foreign policy threatened to scupper the deal.
The row that threatened to hold up the Egypt-brokered agreement signing of the reconciliation deal began when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insisted on being the sole speaker at the event. The move reportedly illustrated his expectance to be the head of the interim unity government, which would allow him to control Palestinian foreign policy.
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the Arab League during a news conference in Cairo on May 3, 2011.
Photo by: Reuters
Fatah's foreign policy includes negotiating toward a peace agreement with Israel, something which Hamas opposes.
Abbas said during the signing ceremony that the Palestinians had turned the "black page" of division between Hamas and Fatah.
A Palestinian journalist reporting from the event told the Nazareth-based A-Shams radio that Hamas' exiled political leader Khaled Mashaal was supposed to speak directly after Abbas upon the signing of the unity deal.
The leaders of the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to sign a reconciliation agreement to end four years of bitter in fighting sparked by Hamas' bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.
Fatah leader Abbas and Hamas' Meshal were to sign the agreement in the presence of representatives of Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt's governing body since the January revolution in that country. Egypt is considered the patron of the reconciliation process and the agreement.
Officials from all the Palestinian factions had earlier signed the deal that Meshaal and Abbas were expected to endorse at the ceremony.
"The signing has been done, everyone signed. Today is the crowning of this achievement," said senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath, speaking shortly before the ceremony.
In a symbolic step before the ceremony on Wednesday, Hamas allowed Fatah-controlled Palestine TV to broadcast from Gaza for the first time since the 2007 takeover. The station's Gaza correspondent, Adel Zaanoun, discussed the excitement that Gazans felt about unity and invited Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader, onto the program.
"Today we end a dark chapter in our recent history," Radwan said. "It's time now to work together ... With the support of our people and the Arab brothers, we will make this agreement work."
Also for the first time, Hamas permitted residents to wave yellow Fatah banners along with the green Hamas flags. Fatah displays had been banned by Hamas police in the past.
(source:haaretz.com)
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