Hamas sticks to its guns; Egypt could still surprise
The fate of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades could hold up the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas; Bassem Sabry’s last article for Al-Monitor anticipates surprises still to come in Egypt.
Hamas sticks to its guns
Adnan Abu Amer reports this week that Hamas will reject placing the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades under a unified command.
The text of the April 23 reconciliation agreement with Fatah makes no reference to a unified security structure, and such conversations were deliberately deferred, as Abu Amer previously reported.
The reconciliation agreement does, however, call for the implementation of the 2011 Cairo agreement and Doha Declaration. The Cairo document stipulates that a “Higher Security Committee … will be formed by a decree of the Palestinian president and will consist of professional officers in consensus."
