GAZA CITY: Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh has told Egyptian officials that he would dissolve a key body causing tension with rival Palestinian faction Fatah, an official said Tuesday.
In March, Hamas announced the formation of a new “administrative committee” seen as a rival government to the internationally recognized administration led by President Mahmoud Abbas.
Hamas has denied the committee was a rival government.
Since the committee was formed, Abbas has sought to squeeze Hamas, reducing electricity payments for the Gaza Strip, which the movement controls among other measures.
The Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Haniyeh told the head of Egyptian intelligence Khaled Fawzy and other officials in Cairo on Monday that they would dissolve the council without preconditions to make way for a unity government with Fatah.
Hamas, he said, wanted Egypt to “succeed in achieving Palestinian reconciliation, and I think there are no arguments now for Fatah to disrupt Egypt’s efforts.”
Hamas has run Gaza for a decade since seizing control of the territory from Abbas’ secular Fatah party, which leads the government in the West Bank. Multiple attempts at reconciliation between the two movements have failed.
A Hamas statement published late on Monday said that during talks in Egypt the Hamas delegation had “emphasized its readiness to hold negotiations with Fatah in Cairo immediately to conclude a (unity) agreement.”
Fatah spokesman in Gaza Fayez Abu Aita told AFP Abbas had made it clear any stopping of the measures against Hamas was “linked to a solution for the administration committee,” as well as allowing the Abbas-led government to exercise control in Gaza.
Haniyeh’s current visit to Cairo is his first since his election as Hamas leader in May.
Meanwhile, a sharp fall in international aid reaching the Palestinian territories due in part to Israel’s occupation is worsening humanitarian and economic crises in Gaza and the West Bank, the UN’s development agency said Tuesday.
The agency also said a spike in Israeli settlement building and confiscations of Palestinian land, water and other resources were keeping poverty and joblessness at intolerable levels.
In a report, the agency said international donor support for Palestinian territories fell by 38 percent between 2014 and 2016, “due in part to the fact that occupation (has prevented) previous aid flows from translating into tangible development gains.”
Hamas ‘will axe key body to promote Palestinian unity’: official
Hamas ‘will axe key body to promote Palestinian unity’: official
Iraq welcomes the appointment of Iran’s new supreme leader
- Armed faction Kataeb Hezbollah said it reflects a profound understanding “of the existential challenges confronting the nation”
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani welcomed on Monday the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader after his predecessor and father was killed in US and Israeli strikes.
“We express our confidence in the ability of the new leadership in the Islamic Republic of Iran to manage this critical stage,” and to further strengthen “the unity of the Iranian people” amid the current challenges, Sudani said in a statement.
He stressed that Iraq stands in solidarity with Iran and supports “all steps aimed at ending the conflict.”
Iran wields significant influence in Iraqi politics, and also backs armed groups whose power has grown both politically and financially.
Iraq has for decades been a proxy battleground between the US and Iran.
Pro-Tehran Iraqi groups were among the first to welcome the new supreme leader.
The powerful Badr organization said the new leadership represents a “blessed continuity of the path of the Islamic revolution.”
The Asaib Ahl Al-Haq faction said choosing Mojtaba Khamenei shows continuity and “reinforcement of the Islamic republic’s role as a central pillar in the axis of resistance.”
Armed faction Kataeb Hezbollah said it reflects a profound understanding “of the existential challenges confronting the nation.”
“The best successor to the best predecessor,” said Kataeb Hezbollah, which is part of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq — a pro-Iran alliance that has been claiming attacks on US bases since the start of the war in the Middle East.
Senior Iraqi politician and moderate cleric Ammar Al-Hakim wished the new supreme leader “success in following the path of his martyred father... in upholding the word of truth.”
