After four
years of division, Fatah and Hamas have agreed to form a joint government to
end the split between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The two Palestinian
factions hope to hold elections as soon as possible.
The rival
Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas reached an agreement on Monday to form a
unity government, with Fatah leader and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas at
the helm in the run up to elections later this year
Abbas and
Khaled Mashaal, the chief of the militant Islamic group Hamas, signed the
agreement in the Gulf nation of Qatar whose government helped broker the deal.
"We
promise our people to implement this agreement as soon as possible," Abbas
said.
Palestine
has been politically divided between the Gaza Strip and West Bank since 2006,
when Hamas beat the secular Fatah movement in parliamentary elections. Hamas
then kicked Fatah out of the Gaza Strip after a series of deadly clashes in
June 2007.
Reconciliation
deal
Under
Monday's agreement, Abbas is set to become prime minister of the unity
government, replacing Western-backed Salam Fayyad. The two factions originally
agreed to the reconciliation deal in May, 2011 in Cairo, but disagreements over
who would head the unity government had delayed a final deal. Hamas was opposed
to Fayyad.
Mashaal
said that Hamas and Fatah were "serious about healing the wounds" in
order to "reunite our people on the foundation of a political partnership
in order to devote our effort to resisting the (Israeli) occupation."
The
Palestinian factions agreed to hold elections, currently scheduled for May, as
quickly as possible.
"We
agreed on the importance of holding the elections quickly… and removing any
obstacles that might delay the polls," said Fatah spokesman Azzam
al-Ahmad.
It remained
unclear whether or not the West would back the unity government. Israel, the
European Union and the United States consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
While Fatah supports a negotiated settlement with Israel, Hamas is officially
sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state.
slk / rg (AP, AFP, Reuters)
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