Fatah, Hamas officials in Doha for unity talks

OFFICIALS from rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas met in the Qatari capital, Doha, yesterday in an attempt to jump-start reconciliation.

Both sides were represented by high-ranking members, with Hamas sending political chief, Khaled Mashaal and senior leader, Moussa Abu Marzouk and Fatah sending Central Committee members Azzam al-Ahmad and Sakhr Basiso, Fatah official Ali Barakeh told the London-based daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat.

According to the report, the groups were set to discuss ways to end divisions and to unite their ranks in the face of “Israeli aggression,” stressing that unity was necessary to rebuild Gaza and end the Israeli blockade on the Strip.

Barakeh told media that the discussions were to be held on the basis of the Cairo Agreement signed by 14 Palestinian factions in 2011, and the goal is to create a “consensus government” to conduct work in state institutions.

Also on the agenda is a 2014 deal signed by the two groups in Gaza’s Shata refugee camp, which called for elections by the end of that year.

Fatah controls the Palestinian Authority, which rules in the West Bank, while Hamas wields power in the Gaza Strip. The two groups have been at loggerheads almost constantly since Hamas won elections in the Palestinian Authority in 2006 and subsequently staged a violent takeover of Gaza.