Hamas and Fatah agreed that the next Palestinian government
headquarters will be in Gaza, a Hamas official told the London-Based
Al-
Quds al-Arabi newspaper on Friday.
Ahmed
Yousef, a political advisor to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Hanieyh,
told the newspaper that the time is "ripe" for consensus between the
two opposing Palestinian factions.
RELATED:'Hamas-Fatah unity would harm diplomatic process'Abbas says he will meet Mashaal on Nov 23The agreement over Gaza indicates the possibility that the next Palestinian leader may also be a Gaza resident.
Yousef continued on to say that all the issues between the opposing
Palestinian factions were resolved ahead of a meeting between
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled
Mashaal.
Hamas will support Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in his
bid to gain Palestinian membership in the United Nations, and also
support the establishment of a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 border
with Jerusalem as its capital.
In an interview with the Ma'an news agency on Saturday, Yousef said that
neither Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh nor Fatah Prime Minister
Salam Fayyad will run for prime minister in the next Palestinian
elections, Hamas official Ahmed Yousef told Ma'an.
"Ismail Haniyeh and Salam Fayyad were causes of disagreement in the previous stage, and so both will be exempted," Yousef said.
In a post on his Facebook page on Friday, Fayyad wrote, "I am more than
ready to leave respectfully," saying that he did not want to be an
obstacle "since I am a responsible person and I care."
Praising Fayyad's decision, Yousef said, "Fayyad was subjected to an
unjust defamation campaign, and part of it came from Fatah. He just
added another element to his accomplishments when he willingly said he
would not impose himself."
According to Yousef, Abbas will visit Gaza in the near future.
Meanwhile,
French Foreign Minister Bernard Valero said Saturday that the French
government supports a reconciliation deal agreement between Hamas and
Fatah.
He told the
al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper that the issue was "urgent."