rare abbas call to hamas chief boosts reconciliation
Tuesday 21 January 2025
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Rare Abbas call to Hamas chief boosts reconciliation

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Rare Abbas call to Hamas chief boosts reconciliation

Rare Abbas call to Hamas chief boosts reconciliation
Ramallah - AFP

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniya spoke Monday for the first time in nearly a year, adding impetus to a surprise reconciliation between their factions locked in bitter dispute for 10 years.

Abbas spoke with Haniya by phone from New York and "expressed his satisfaction with the prevailing atmosphere of reconciliation", according to a statement on the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

A Hamas statement quoted Haniya as saying that Hamas was "determined to move ahead with steps to end the division, will all willingness and determination, with the goal of uniting our Palestinian people".

A Hamas spokesman told AFP that the two had not spoken since meeting in Qatar in October 2016.

Hamas said Sunday it had agreed to demands by Abbas's Fatah party to dissolve what is seen as a rival administration in Gaza, while saying it was ready for elections and negotiations towards forming a unity government.

As a first step towards implementing a larger agreement, Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah plans to visit Gaza City to meet Hamas officials and assert the government's control over ministries, said Nabil Shaath, a senior adviser to Abbas.

"We await the first steps on the ground. We want to see Mr Hamdallah received by Hamas, the door to all the ministries open," he told journalists in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"That really could happen in the next 24 hours."

Abbas's Palestinian Authority (PA) located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has international recognition, but it lost control of the Gaza Strip when the Islamist movement Hamas seized the territory in a near civil war in 2007.

Hamdallah last visited the coastal enclave in 2015, and a previous attempt at a unity government fell apart that year, with the two sides trading blame.

The head of the Arab League on Monday hailed the steps taken by Hamas and called for full reconciliation.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit "welcomes the important positive developments" regarding "ending the division" between the Palestinian factions, the Cairo-based organisation's spokesman Mahmoud Afifi said in a statement.

- Squeezing Hamas -

In recent months Abbas has sought to squeeze Hamas by reducing power supply to the strip, with the two million residents receiving only three or four hours of mains electricity per day as a result.

He has also reduced the salaries of some employees in Gaza, while the number of Gazans receiving PA permits to travel for medical care has declined.

Hamas on Monday called for the measures to be reversed after dissolving the so-called administrative committee, seen as a rival government and created in March.

In a statement they called on Abbas to "take urgent steps to cancel all his punitive decisions and measures against our people in the Strip."

Shaath said Abbas wanted to reverse the punitive measures, but he did not give a timetable.

"When the president supported these economic measures (against Gaza) he said they will stop immediately once the self-rule governance of Hamas ends and the consensus government takes place. He didn't put any other conditions whatsoever."

Abbas is due to address world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, after meeting with US President Donald Trump.

Source: AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

rare abbas call to hamas chief boosts reconciliation rare abbas call to hamas chief boosts reconciliation

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

rare abbas call to hamas chief boosts reconciliation rare abbas call to hamas chief boosts reconciliation

 



GMT 01:34 2017 Sunday ,19 February

Dashti loses last hope to run in Kuwait’s elections

GMT 03:38 2017 Saturday ,18 November

England and Australia set for clash of the titans

GMT 08:21 2017 Monday ,06 March

Iran indicts nuclear negotiator, holds

GMT 09:14 2017 Sunday ,12 November

Crown Prince congratulates Moroccan King

GMT 12:33 2017 Monday ,07 August

European stocks buoyed by bright US jobs data

GMT 10:03 2017 Wednesday ,22 February

Actress Nadeen Najim confident of "Haiba" success

GMT 19:54 2017 Friday ,11 August

Credit Suisse bars trades on some Venezuelan bonds

GMT 20:14 2016 Tuesday ,18 October

Iran Air Force begins large-scale drills

GMT 05:29 2017 Thursday ,13 April

Greece completes sale of 14 airports

GMT 11:24 2017 Thursday ,06 April

Dora is absent from Ramadan Dramas

GMT 22:36 2017 Thursday ,16 February

Competes Sweden and Germans by S90

GMT 01:35 2017 Wednesday ,09 August

Russia Foreign Minister to Visit Japan in Fall

GMT 14:19 2017 Thursday ,19 January

Hana Shiha started working in two new TV series

GMT 05:24 2016 Thursday ,23 June

Emirates Academy is a leading centre

GMT 16:01 2016 Thursday ,09 June

China’s imports fall slows in May

GMT 14:22 2017 Wednesday ,01 March

IOF demolish East Jerusalem home, displace 30 people

GMT 14:32 2013 Monday ,16 December

Window treatment ideas

GMT 07:07 2017 Wednesday ,20 December

New series of Narcos moves to Mexico

GMT 22:41 2017 Friday ,15 December

BOC celebrates National Day

GMT 06:04 2017 Tuesday ,24 January

KSA shines in Gulf, Kuwait bull run slows

GMT 21:20 2017 Monday ,03 April

EU condemns St.Petersburg explosions

GMT 00:45 2017 Tuesday ,05 September

Lebanese newspapers' headlines for 4/9/2017
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday