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South Africa renews efforts to help unite Hamas, Fatah

Three groups are joining forces in hopes of ending the Palestinian division.
Palestinian and South African officials pose in front of a giant statue of Nelson Mandela during its inauguration ceremony in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 26, 2016.
Palestinians inaugurated the statue of Mandela donated by the South African city of Johannesburg to their political capital. The six-metre (20-foot) two-tonne bronze statue was a gift from Johannesburg with which Ramallah is twinned.

 / AFP / ABBAS MOMANI        (Photo credit should read ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images)
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RAMALLAH, West Bank — In an effort to end the nine-year division between Hamas and Fatah, South African Ambassador to Palestine Ashraf Suleiman will soon meet with groups that have developed initiatives toward that goal.

Suleiman is expected to start talks soon with Patriots to End the Split and Restore National Unity and the Palestinian Center for Policy Research & Strategic Studies (Masarat). He will seek to combine their initiatives with one recently revived by Awad Abdel Fattah, the general secretary of the National Democratic Assembly, along with activists and advocates for the Palestinian cause in South Africa, under the supervision of the Institute of Palestine and South Africa.

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