CAIRO: Unity talks between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Islamist group Hamas in Cairo began on an optimistic note on Tuesday, with a top Hamas delegate saying he was “full of hope” for a roadmap to reconciliation.
The Western-backed mainstream Fatah party lost control of Gaza to Hamas, considered a terrorist group by the West and Israel, in fighting in 2007. But last month Hamas agreed to cede powers in Gaza to President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah-backed government in a deal mediated by Egypt.
Cairo subsequently set up this week’s three-day talks on the implementation of further steps toward unity.
“We meet in Cairo full of hope to draw and lay down a road map entitled a national reconciliation,” senior Hamas delegate Izzat Reshiq said on his Twitter account.
“Unity and national reconciliation among all our Palestinian people is our strategic option to move forward.”
Azzam Ahmad, one of the leaders of the Fatah delegation, said negotiations would also cover the running of government ministries in Gaza. Also heading the Fatah contingent is Majed Faraj, Palestinian intelligence chief and a close ally of Abbas.
A third issue on the table would be the fate of 40,000 to 50,000 employees Hamas hired since 2007. Heading the Hamas delegation is Saleh Arouri, the group’s deputy leader.
Security will be the main focus of the talks, including the possible deployment of 3,000 Fatah security officers who would join a Gaza police force over the course of a year, restoring much of Abbas’ influence in Gaza and further loosening Hamas’ grip.
Fatah’s Ahmad said Rafah, Gaza’s only border crossing with Egypt and once the main gateway to the world for its 2 million people, should be run by Abbas’s presidential guards with supervision from the European Union border agency instead of the currently deployed Hamas-linked employees.
He said the government would work to complete arrangements in a week or two for the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the Palestinians against “bogus reconciliations,” reiterating Israel’s demand for the disbandment of Hamas’s military faction. Hamas has said its arms are not up for discussion.
The cabinet of the Fatah-backed Palestinian government based in the West Bank also said on Tuesday it hoped the Cairo talks would succeed.
“The cabinet hopes the national dialogue session in Cairo will succeed in achieving reconciliation and reunite the homeland. It expresses readiness to assume full duties in Gaza Strip soon the factions clinched an agreement.”
The handover of administrative powers was a major reversal for Hamas, partially prompted by the group’s fears of potential financial and political isolation after its main donor Qatar suffered a major diplomatic crisis with key allies.
Both sides hope that the proposed deployment of security personnel from the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority to Gaza’s borders will encourage Egypt and Israel to ease restrictions at border crossings, and help Gaza revive its economy.
Hamas and Fatah will also discuss a date for presidential and legislative elections and reforms of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is in charge of long-stalled peace efforts with Israel.
The last Palestinian legislative election was in 2006 when Hamas won a surprise victory. This sparked the political rupture between Hamas and Fatah which eventually led to their short civil war in Gaza in 2007.
Egypt has helped mediate several attempts to reconcile the two movements and form a power-sharing unity government in Gaza and the West Bank. Hamas and Fatah agreed in 2014 to form a national reconciliation government, but despite that deal, Hamas’s shadow government continued to rule the Gaza Strip.
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Palestinian rivals Hamas, Fatah start unity talks in Cairo
Palestinian rivals Hamas, Fatah start unity talks in Cairo
UPDATE 9-Iran foreign minister says progress made in nuclear talks with US in Geneva
* Araqchi says progress made on the main guiding principles
* Iranian media say parts of Strait of Hormuz to be temporarily closed
* The talks involved officials from both Iran and US
* US President Trump said he was involved indirectly
GENEVA: Iran and the United States reached an understanding on Tuesday on main “guiding principles” in talks aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.
Oil futures fell and the benchmark Brent crude contract tumbled more than 1 percent after Araqchi’s comments, which helped ease fears of conflict in the region, where the US has deployed a battle force to press Tehran for concessions.
“Different ideas have been presented, these ideas have been seriously discussed, ultimately we’ve been able to reach a general agreement on some guiding principles,” Araqchi told Iranian media after the talks concluded in Geneva.
BOTH SIDES HAVE ‘CLEAR NEXT STEPS’
The indirect discussions between US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside Araqchi, were mediated by Oman. The White House did not respond to emailed questions about the meeting.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi said in a post on X “much work is yet to be done” but Iran and the US were leaving with “clear next steps” .
Just as talks began on Tuesday, Iranian state media said Iran would temporarily shut part of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, due to “security precautions” while Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards conducted military drills there.
Tehran has in the past threatened to shut down the strait to commercial shipping if it is attacked, a move that would choke off a fifth of global oil flows and drive up crude prices.
Responding to comments by Trump that “regime change” in Iran might be the best course, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, warned that any US attempts to depose his government would fail.
“The US President says their army is the world’s strongest, but the strongest army in the world can sometimes be slapped so hard it cannot get up,” he said, in comments published by Iranian media.
Speaking at a disarmament conference in Geneva after the talks, Araqchi said that a “new window of opportunity” had opened and that he hoped discussions would lead to a “sustainable” solution that ensured the full recognition of Iran’s legitimate rights.
Earlier, Trump said he himself would be involved “indirectly” in the Geneva talks and that he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal.
“I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. “We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s.”
The US joined Israel last June in bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. The US and Israel believe Iran aspires to build a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel’s existence. Iran says its nuclear program is purely peaceful, even though it has enriched uranium far beyond the purity needed for power generation, and close to what is required for a bomb.
IRAN SAYS IT WILL ONLY DISCUSS NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Since those strikes, Iran’s Islamic rulers have been weakened by street protests, suppressed at a cost of thousands of lives, against a cost-of-living crisis driven in part by international sanctions that have strangled Iran’s oil income.
Washington has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran’s missile stockpile. Tehran says it is willing only to discuss curbs on its nuclear program — in exchange for sanctions relief — and that it will not give up uranium enrichment completely or discuss its missile program.
Khamenei reiterated Iran’s position that its formidable missile stockpile is non-negotiable and missile type and range have nothing to do with the United States.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday the success of the Geneva talks hinged on the US not making unrealistic demands and on its seriousness on lifting the crippling sanctions on Iran.
US B-2 BOMBERS STRUCK NUCLEAR TARGETS
Tehran and Washington were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks in June last year when Washington’s ally Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, and was then joined by US B-2 bombers that struck nuclear targets. Tehran has since said it has halted uranium enrichment activity.
Iran has joined the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which guarantees countries the right to pursue civilian nuclear power in return for requiring them to forgo atomic weapons and cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel, which has not signed the NPT, neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons, under a decades-old ambiguity policy designed to deter surrounding enemies. Scholars believe it does.
* Iranian media say parts of Strait of Hormuz to be temporarily closed
* The talks involved officials from both Iran and US
* US President Trump said he was involved indirectly
GENEVA: Iran and the United States reached an understanding on Tuesday on main “guiding principles” in talks aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that does not mean a deal is imminent, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.
Oil futures fell and the benchmark Brent crude contract tumbled more than 1 percent after Araqchi’s comments, which helped ease fears of conflict in the region, where the US has deployed a battle force to press Tehran for concessions.
“Different ideas have been presented, these ideas have been seriously discussed, ultimately we’ve been able to reach a general agreement on some guiding principles,” Araqchi told Iranian media after the talks concluded in Geneva.
BOTH SIDES HAVE ‘CLEAR NEXT STEPS’
The indirect discussions between US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, alongside Araqchi, were mediated by Oman. The White House did not respond to emailed questions about the meeting.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi said in a post on X “much work is yet to be done” but Iran and the US were leaving with “clear next steps” .
Just as talks began on Tuesday, Iranian state media said Iran would temporarily shut part of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, due to “security precautions” while Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards conducted military drills there.
Tehran has in the past threatened to shut down the strait to commercial shipping if it is attacked, a move that would choke off a fifth of global oil flows and drive up crude prices.
Responding to comments by Trump that “regime change” in Iran might be the best course, the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 86, warned that any US attempts to depose his government would fail.
“The US President says their army is the world’s strongest, but the strongest army in the world can sometimes be slapped so hard it cannot get up,” he said, in comments published by Iranian media.
Speaking at a disarmament conference in Geneva after the talks, Araqchi said that a “new window of opportunity” had opened and that he hoped discussions would lead to a “sustainable” solution that ensured the full recognition of Iran’s legitimate rights.
Earlier, Trump said he himself would be involved “indirectly” in the Geneva talks and that he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal.
“I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. “We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s.”
The US joined Israel last June in bombing Iranian nuclear facilities. The US and Israel believe Iran aspires to build a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel’s existence. Iran says its nuclear program is purely peaceful, even though it has enriched uranium far beyond the purity needed for power generation, and close to what is required for a bomb.
IRAN SAYS IT WILL ONLY DISCUSS NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Since those strikes, Iran’s Islamic rulers have been weakened by street protests, suppressed at a cost of thousands of lives, against a cost-of-living crisis driven in part by international sanctions that have strangled Iran’s oil income.
Washington has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues such as Iran’s missile stockpile. Tehran says it is willing only to discuss curbs on its nuclear program — in exchange for sanctions relief — and that it will not give up uranium enrichment completely or discuss its missile program.
Khamenei reiterated Iran’s position that its formidable missile stockpile is non-negotiable and missile type and range have nothing to do with the United States.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday the success of the Geneva talks hinged on the US not making unrealistic demands and on its seriousness on lifting the crippling sanctions on Iran.
US B-2 BOMBERS STRUCK NUCLEAR TARGETS
Tehran and Washington were scheduled to hold a sixth round of talks in June last year when Washington’s ally Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, and was then joined by US B-2 bombers that struck nuclear targets. Tehran has since said it has halted uranium enrichment activity.
Iran has joined the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which guarantees countries the right to pursue civilian nuclear power in return for requiring them to forgo atomic weapons and cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Israel, which has not signed the NPT, neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons, under a decades-old ambiguity policy designed to deter surrounding enemies. Scholars believe it does.
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