Egypt to launch another round of Palestinian negotiations
Egypt is willing take another shot at unifying Palestinian factions, but no one seems to be getting their hopes up about the outcome.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — In the next few days, Egypt is expected to invite Palestinian factions to visit Cairo to start a new round of political consultations in a bid to achieve Palestinian reconciliation.
Azzam al-Ahmad, who heads the reconciliation effort in the Fatah movement, told Palestine TV on June 12 that Egypt is arranging with the Fatah and Hamas movements to resume the reconciliation process in the hopes that Hamas will agree to implement what was previously agreed upon, namely the 2017 Cairo Agreement.
Under that accord, the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah demanded that Hamas hand over control of the Gaza Strip, including management of the crossings, customs, the judiciary and the Palestinian Land Authority. Such a move would allow the Palestinian government to work in Gaza without restrictions, paving the way for elections.
Following successive failed attempts to achieve reconciliation over the past 12 years of division, Egypt seems to have only a few options left, and several recent reports had indicated Cairo had decided to abandon the reconciliation efforts. According to a report published May 17 by Al-Khaleej Online, Egypt informed Palestinian factions May 3 that it “no longer wants to sponsor reconciliation.”
