GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah appears to be moving ahead, despite clear challenges. The deal appears more serious concerning the implementation of reconciliation than previous agreements, especially following the receding political and on-the-ground horizons of the two Palestinian rivals in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Al-Monitor spoke with a Hamas source who participated in the meetings that took place between the delegations of Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in the house of vice chairman of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, in the Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City. The source said that the two delegations were able to draft the major part of the new agreement in the first session, which lasted until 2 a.m. The rest of the points were completed the next day, when the agreement was announced.

Azzam al-Ahmad from Fatah and Mahmoud al-Zahar from Hamas participated in writing the terms of the agreement, with the help of Taher al-Nunu, Haniyeh's media adviser. Zahar demonstrated “unexpected flexibility,” as described by a well-informed source in the Fatah movement. Hamas leaders Khalil al-Hayya and Haniyeh interfered to resolve any point of contention in the process of drafting the statement.

The same Hamas source revealed that the agreement was not only the result of the meetings held in the Gaza Strip, but was preceded by multiple contacts between the two parties. The turning point was contact between the head of the delegation, Fatah leader Azzam al-Ahmad, and Hamas leader Mohammed Nasr, who is based in Qatar. This was followed by other contacts that led to the arrival of the delegation to the Gaza Strip, and then the signing of the agreement.