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Hamas accuses Fatah of setting preconditions ahead of reconciliation talks in Doha

Xinhua, February 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Islamic Hamas movement accused President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party of setting preconditions ahead of national reconciliation talks to be held in Doha on Sunday.

Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri made the accusations in a press statement, saying the government's political program contradicts with the reconciliation talks.

Fatah's call "is an attempt to set preconditions away from the reconciliation talks, which raises questions over its seriousness towards realizing reconciliation," said Abu Zuhri.

He called for putting "real mechanisms to implement the national reconciliation deal, supporting the Intifada (or Palestinian uprising against Israel), and settling Gaza's issues."

Abu Zuhri stressed the importance of settling the disagreement over the national unity government "because it discriminated against Gaza and ignored it." The statements pointed to the cases of nearly 40 thousand employees of Hamas government in Gaza, whose salaries were cut off from the government's payroll.

The statement said that in order to guarantee the success of the current efforts, both parties must find "real solutions" for the shortcomings of the last agreement.

Meanwhile, the consensus government spokesperson, Yousef Al-Mahmoud, called on all parties "to support the efforts to restore national unity based on the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization)'s political program."

Fatah's Revolutionary council's secretary general, Amin Maqbool, told Xinhua last Wednesday that the Doha meeting will focus on the formation of a national unity government and setting general elections dates.

Maqbool said that the government's political program was previously agreed upon in the Cairo talk which was signed by all Palestinian factions in May 2011.

A Fatah delegation is expected to arrive in Doha Saturday, including members of the party's central committee Azzam Al-Ahmad and Sakher Bseiso, to hold meetings with Hamas officials.

Hamas and a PLO delegation reached an agreement to form a national unity government in April 2014. The government was formed two months after the agreement, but has not contributed to ending the internal rift that started since 2007.

Fatah and the consensus government accuse Hamas of disabling the government of running Gaz's affairs through keeping a shadow government, while Hamas slams the consensus government for ignoring Gaza's growing problems, including refusing to keep Hamas government employees on its payroll. Endit