Egypt is exerting heavy pressure on all the Palestinian factions to participate in the meeting planned in Cairo on the 30th of the month.
The meeting was initiated by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in order to formulate a new strategy against the right-wing government in Israel.
The Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad, Ziad Al-Nakhala, announced that his organization will not participate in the meeting if the PA does not release all the political prisoners it holds in prison.
Hamas is trying to mediate between the PA and the Islamic Jihad, but so far without results.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas initiated the meeting in Cairo following the IDF operation in the Jenin refugee camp.
It was an attempt to regain the international legitimacy he lost after the PA lost its security control over all of northern Samaria to the Islamic Jihad in the last two years, which is actually an emissary of Iran.
Mahmoud Abbas aims for an agreement to be reached at the end of the meeting in Cairo that the PA is the official representative of all Palestinians.
He is mainly interested in renewing its international legitimacy so that international financial aid will reach the PA’s coffers, which is in a severe financial crisis.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas surprisingly met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the presence of President Erdogan on July 25th in Ankara, Turkey, even though the PA accuses Hamas of trying to overthrow Mahmoud Abbas’s regime.
The meeting was initiated by Fatah Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub and Saleh Al-Arouri, Ismail Haniyeh’s deputy.
According to Hamas sources, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas offered Ismail Haniyeh a political plan on which the reconciliation at the Cairo meeting would be based.
The plan is based on all the international decisions on the Palestinian problem, the joining of Hamas to the PLO, the agreement that the struggle against Israel will be done in “peaceful ways,” and the disarmament of the Hamas movement.
The Hamas leader rejected the proposal outright and emphasized that his movement advocates a struggle against Israel in all ways, including through armed struggle.
He claimed that Hamas is not trying to overthrow the PA government and that it only acts against Israel, but the PA chairman did not buy his explanations.
Hamas officials said that Turkish President Erdogan rejected the request of Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh to cancel the invitation he sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Turkey.
Sources in the Gaza Strip claim that the meeting in Turkey also dealt with Israel’s agreement that the PA operates the “Marin” natural gas field off the coast of Gaza to improve the Palestinian Authority’s economic situation.
The Hamas movement demands to share the profits with the PA, and the President of Turkey tried to find a solution to the dispute.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas rejected the Hamas leader’s request to release all political detainees in PA prisons ahead of the meeting in Cairo.
Despite the good atmosphere that Egypt and the PA are trying to project before the meeting in Cairo, there is a fear that, in the end, the meeting will be postponed due to the refusal of the chairman of the PA to release the political detainees.
Such a meeting of all Palestinian factions to try and reach agreements has not taken place in a long time.
Since the Hamas movement forcibly took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 and expelled the PA from it, there have been many attempts at reconciliation and agreements signed between Hamas and Fatah on the division of the political cake.
However, all of them failed. A senior source in the Fatah movement says that the Hamas and Fatah movements are like two parallel lines that can never meet.
The Hamas movement believes that Mahmoud Abbas has reached the end of his political career after failing in his role and will not provide him with any lifeline.
It is waiting for him to step down from the political stage and will try to take control of the West Bank, as it did in the Gaza Strip.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is aware of the true intentions of Hamas, but the meeting in Cairo is important to him to present the “national unity” of the Palestinians.
If the meeting eventually takes place in Cairo, it is likely that he will publish a positive summary statement, but in practice, there will be no reconciliation between the Palestinian factions as their differences of opinion are very large.
Egypt is exerting heavy pressure on all the Palestinian factions to participate in the meeting planned in Cairo on the 30th of the month.
The meeting was initiated by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in order to formulate a new strategy against the right-wing government in Israel.
The Secretary-General of the Islamic Jihad, Ziad Al-Nakhala, announced that his organization will not participate in the meeting if the PA does not release all the political prisoners it holds in prison.
Hamas is trying to mediate between the PA and the Islamic Jihad, but so far without results.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas initiated the meeting in Cairo following the IDF operation in the Jenin refugee camp.
It was an attempt to regain the international legitimacy he lost after the PA lost its security control over all of northern Samaria to the Islamic Jihad in the last two years, which is actually an emissary of Iran.
Mahmoud Abbas aims for an agreement to be reached at the end of the meeting in Cairo that the PA is the official representative of all Palestinians.
He is mainly interested in renewing its international legitimacy so that international financial aid will reach the PA’s coffers, which is in a severe financial crisis.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas surprisingly met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in the presence of President Erdogan on July 25th in Ankara, Turkey, even though the PA accuses Hamas of trying to overthrow Mahmoud Abbas’s regime.
The meeting was initiated by Fatah Secretary-General Jibril Rajoub and Saleh Al-Arouri, Ismail Haniyeh’s deputy.
According to Hamas sources, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas offered Ismail Haniyeh a political plan on which the reconciliation at the Cairo meeting would be based.
The plan is based on all the international decisions on the Palestinian problem, the joining of Hamas to the PLO, the agreement that the struggle against Israel will be done in “peaceful ways,” and the disarmament of the Hamas movement.
The Hamas leader rejected the proposal outright and emphasized that his movement advocates a struggle against Israel in all ways, including through armed struggle.
He claimed that Hamas is not trying to overthrow the PA government and that it only acts against Israel, but the PA chairman did not buy his explanations.
Hamas officials said that Turkish President Erdogan rejected the request of Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh to cancel the invitation he sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Turkey.
Sources in the Gaza Strip claim that the meeting in Turkey also dealt with Israel’s agreement that the PA operates the “Marin” natural gas field off the coast of Gaza to improve the Palestinian Authority’s economic situation.
The Hamas movement demands to share the profits with the PA, and the President of Turkey tried to find a solution to the dispute.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas rejected the Hamas leader’s request to release all political detainees in PA prisons ahead of the meeting in Cairo.
Despite the good atmosphere that Egypt and the PA are trying to project before the meeting in Cairo, there is a fear that, in the end, the meeting will be postponed due to the refusal of the chairman of the PA to release the political detainees.
Such a meeting of all Palestinian factions to try and reach agreements has not taken place in a long time.
Since the Hamas movement forcibly took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 and expelled the PA from it, there have been many attempts at reconciliation and agreements signed between Hamas and Fatah on the division of the political cake.
However, all of them failed. A senior source in the Fatah movement says that the Hamas and Fatah movements are like two parallel lines that can never meet.
The Hamas movement believes that Mahmoud Abbas has reached the end of his political career after failing in his role and will not provide him with any lifeline.
It is waiting for him to step down from the political stage and will try to take control of the West Bank, as it did in the Gaza Strip.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is aware of the true intentions of Hamas, but the meeting in Cairo is important to him to present the “national unity” of the Palestinians.
If the meeting eventually takes place in Cairo, it is likely that he will publish a positive summary statement, but in practice, there will be no reconciliation between the Palestinian factions as their differences of opinion are very large.
