Palestinian rival factions, Fatah and Hamas, announced today that they have reached a deal, after a decade of opposition between the West Bank and Gaza.
On Tuesday, reconciliation talks? started taking place between representatives of the two factions, Saleh al-Arouri (Hamas) and Azzam al-Ahmed (Fatah). This happened after Hamas agreed to cede powers to Fatah’s President, Mahmoud Abbas, in Gaza. On Thursday, at dawn, discussions ended.
Still, little is known about what will be done. A press conference should occur in the next few days – having initially been planned for noon. However, important facts have been revealed: first of all, the Palestinian President will likely travel to the Gaza Strip. Moreover, they will be deploying 3000 members of the Palestinian Authority police to Gaza, and other PA forces will take control of the Rafah border.
Finally, sanctions from Fatah in Gaza will also be lifted. These included reducing electricity payments, meaning residents only had access to it a few hours per day; cutting employees’ salaries by 30%; as well as medical funding. On Wednesday, M. Krähenbühl, Commissioner-General to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), also alerted at the general catastrophic state of the region. He reminded that 90% of young people have never left Gaza, and that 65% of them will not find any work there. He affirmed that « Palestinian reconciliation is one of the key solutions to better living conditions for the population ».
The faction’s objective is to continue negotiating so that administrative issues are resolved for the handout, and a unified government is formed.
Carolina Duarte de Jesus
For further information :
Bulletin Quotidien Europe 11880, Agence Europe, 2017, [consulted online on 12/10/2017]. http://www.agenceurope.eu
“Hamas: Deal reached with Palestinian rival Fatah”, Al-Jazeera, 2017, [consulted online on 12/10/2017]. http://www.aljazeera.com
“Hamas, Fatah reach deal on Palestinian reconciliation”, AFP, 2017, [consulted online on 12/10/2017]. http://www.afp.com
ALKHSHALI Hamdi, LIEBERMANN Oren and MCKIRDY Euan, “Rival Paliestinian factions announce milestone reconciliation agreement”, CNN, 2017, [consulted online on 12/10/2017]. http://edition.cnn.com
MCNAMARA Ryan, PATEL Yumna, “Ending a Civil War”, Jacobin, 2017, [consulted online on 12/10/2017]. http://www.jacobinmag.com
