Hamas, Fatah unity talks begin in Cairo

[Trooper]

CAIRO: A dozen Palestinian groups met under Egyptian auspices in Cairo on Thursday at the start of a long-awaited dialogue, which could reunite Palestinians after 18 months of schism between Gaza and the West Bank.

All parties said they hope the dialogue will lead to a new national unity government to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza after a three-week Israeli offensive and then to organise presidential and parliamentary elections.

But the Islamist group Hamas and the rival Fatah group, which dominates the Palestinian Authority, have different visions of the crucial question of how to deal with Israel.

Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since June 2007, reserves the right to fight Israel, although it is prepared to accept an 18-month truce. Fatah, which controls the West Bank, has renounced violence and puts all its hope in negotiations.

Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman told the opening session of the dialogue, "(Egypt hopes) that this meeting is the real start of a new period ending the state of division which has gone on too long."

"The time has come for us to turn the page once and for all," he told the Palestinian delegates, who sat at a long table in a room at Egyptian intelligence headquarters.

Suleiman added, "Everyone is looking towards you and hanging their hopes on you. So do not prolong the disagreement and deepen the division. Unite ranks to fulfil the hopes of all for an independent Palestinian state."

 

[BATMAN]

Good news.
Now this is the way forward and once again Egypt has played the role of good neighbor.
Biggest enemy of Palestinians is their indifference and enimies of peace use their differences to malign them and brand them as terrorists.
I'm sure Palestinians leaders are much more civilized and reasonable than Pakistani politicians and I'm hopeful.

 

[araz]

Good news.
Now this is the way forward and once again Egypt has played the role of good neighbor.
Biggest enemy of Palestinians is their indifference and enimies of peace use their differences to malign them and brand them as terrorists.
I'm sure Palestinians leaders are much more civilized and reasonable than Pakistani politicians and I'm hopeful.

I fully agree with your post. It iss the division within the Ummah that has caused us more harm than anything else. Neither Hammas nor Fatah on their own can fight for the cause of the palestinians. It is the need of the hour that palestinians unite and in many ways the aggression unleashed against them has made them realize how futile it is to try and resist the Zionists without sorting out their own differences.
WaSalam
Araz

 

[metalfalcon]

They can Make a difference Only if they Stand United against the Israelis. If they are not United even Now then No one can protect them.