Abbas to attend Fatah-Hamas parley

Hamas says it has released 17 of 20 Fatah prisoners it holds; Haniyeh calls on Abbas to return gesture.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Abbas Haniyeh 224.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Abbas Haniyeh 224.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to attend a conference for "national reconciliation" with Hamas in Cairo early next month, a senior PA official said Thursday. The official told The Jerusalem Post the Egyptians had invited various Palestinian factions to the three-day meeting, which is scheduled to begin in Cairo on November 9. The conference's primary goal is to solve the ongoing dispute between Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas. "President Abbas will personally attend the conference," the official said, adding out that the Egyptians had sent official invitations to the Palestinian factions. "We are going to the conference with good intentions and with the aim of achieving national unity." At least six Arab foreign ministers are expected to participate in the meeting in an effort to ensure that it produces positive results, the PA official added. He said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa had also expressed a desire to attend. Abbas initially rejected an Egyptian invitation to attend the talks, another top PA official said on Thursday. But, he added, Abbas changed his mind after coming under pressure from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who believes that Abbas's presence would boost the chances of success. According to the official, Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has also been invited. The official did not rule out the possibility that Mubarak would try to arrange a trilateral meeting with Abbas and Mashaal. Ghassan Shaka'ah, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said Abbas had abandoned his previous precondition for talking with Hamas - that the Islamist movement first relinquish control over the Gaza Strip. "President Abbas dropped his condition because he wants to end the divisions in the Palestinian arena," he explained. "He wants to safeguard the interests of the homeland and to ensure that the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are reunited." Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a close aide to Abbas who is expected to participate in the Cairo discussions, said Fatah was going to the parley to "restore national unity and reunite the homeland." "We are eager to end the division between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip that resulted from Hamas's coup in the Gaza Strip. "We want to unite the two parts of the homeland so that we can pursue the struggle to liberate all the Palestinian territories and establish the independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," he said. Abdel Rahman praised Egypt's mediation efforts as a "golden opportunity to end the state of schism" among the Palestinians. He said the decision to send the foreign ministers to the conference showed that the Arab world wanted an end to the power struggle between Hamas and Fatah. "The presence of the Arab foreign ministers is also a message to Hamas that it must end its illegal coup in the Gaza Strip and accept the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority," he added. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official and adviser to Abbas, confirmed that the PA president would attend the Cairo discussions. However, he said Abbas would only participate in the opening ceremony and would not take part in the discussions that would begin the following day between Fatah and Hamas. Also in Thursday, Hamas released 17 Fatah members from prison in the Gaza Strip. Hamas described the move as a goodwill gesture aimed at paving the way for reconciliation with Fatah at the Cairo conference. Among those released was Muhammad al-Nahhal, a senior Fatah official who was arrested by Hamas earlier this week. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he decided to release all "political prisoners to create a better atmosphere" on the eve of the Cairo talks. He urged the PA leadership in Ramallah to reciprocate by releasing all Hamas prisoners in the West Bank.