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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it

Occupation magazine - Related Issues Home page  back Print  Send To friend PLO, Hamas reconcile for elections next year By AFP The Australian May 04, 2011 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/plo-hamas-reconcile-for-elections-next-year/story-e6frg6so-1226049445944 The reconciliation deal marks a diplomatic coup for Egypt`s new government, 11 weeks after president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular revolt. PALESTINIAN factions gathered in Cairo last night signed a reconciliation deal that will pave the way for elections within a year and seeks to end the divide between Gaza and the West Bank. Representatives of 13 factions, including Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas`s Fatah party and its rival Hamas, as well as independent political figures, inked the deal. `We signed the deal despite several reservations. But we insisted on working for the higher national interest,` Walid al-Awad, a politburo member of the leftist Palestine People`s Party, said last night. `We have discussed all the reservations. Everyone has agreed to take these points into consideration,` he told Egyptian state television. The deal, which was announced last week, comes after 18 months of fruitless talks and envisages the formation of an interim government of independents that will pave the way for presidential and parliamentary elections within a year. Israel had heavily criticised the agreement, refusing to deal with any government that included Hamas, which it and the United States blacklist as a terrorist organisation. But Palestinian officials said the new government`s role will be to manage affairs in the Palestinian territories, while the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), of which Hamas is not a member, will remain in charge of peace talks with Israel. Last night`s signing will be followed by an official ceremony today in Cairo, which will be attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Arabi, Muwafi and Arab League chief Amr Mussa. After the ceremony, work will immediately begin on the formation of the new government, Fatah delegation chief Azzam al-Ahmad said yesterday. Among the first tasks to be tackled is the establishment of a higher security council tasked with examining ways to integrate Hamas and Fatah`s rival security forces and create a `professional` security service. Fatah and Hamas have been bitterly divided since June 2007 when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, routing Fatah loyalists in bloody confrontations that effectively split the Palestinian territories in two. The reconciliation deal marks a diplomatic coup for Egypt`s new government, 11 weeks after president Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular revolt. id Links to the latest articles in this section Adam Keller in Berlin, Sept 5-8 Activists protest Tel Aviv arms exhibition: `Arms trade is death trade` In Memeoriam Beate Keller Zilversmidt, 1942-2021