Details emerge on Palestinian Gaza declaration
The Palestinian reconciliation deal appears to be moving ahead, with Hamas and Fatah agreeing to return the presidential guards to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
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.
