Roundup: Palestinian factions insist Fatah-Hamas deal no alternative to national consensus

Several Palestinian factions have warned that a deal reached between Fatah and Hamas in Qatar should not be an alternative to the national consensus among all groups.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party and Islamic Hamas movement had talks on Sunday and Monday in Qatar to discuss mechanisms of implementing internal reconciliation and resolving obstacles they face.

Late on Monday, the two groups announced that they reached an initial agreement on implementing internal reconciliation.

"The meeting in Doha was held in a fraternal atmosphere and the conferees discussed the mechanisms and steps for putting a reconciliation agreement into effect within a timetable that the two sides will agree upon," they said in a joint press statement emailed to reporters last night.

The initial deal "will be referred to the leading bodies of the two movements for final approval to be effective on ground," the statement added.

Leaders of the two groups declined to unveil the content of the deal before they pass it to their leaderships.

Hours before reaching the understanding, President Abbas said: "there are two basic requirements to end internal division: forming a unity government and preparing for the general elections."

Jameel Mezher, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Gaza, told Xinhua that similar bilateral formulas had been reached before, but "every time they would stumble in details and end up with big failure."

"The alternative to the bilateral formula is to put all the outstanding issues on the table with the participation of all factions which signed a Cairo reconciliation agreement in 2011 to avoid trading accusations," Mezher said.

Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad leader, welcomed the agreement, telling Xinhua that it should be implemented in the framework of a comprehensive unity dialogue.

Bassam Salhi, chairman of the Palestinian People's Party, told Xinhua that his party rejects any bilateral formula on a reconciliation agreement, adding that "it is so important to reach a comprehensive national strategy for all factions."

"It is necessary to agree on a comprehensive treatment of the internal division and not only focus on parts of the conflict, otherwise, it will negatively influence the internal social, political and economic realities," said Salhi.

Meanwhile, Palestinian social media activists made a cautious welcome to the agreement reached in Qatar, but reiterated that the most important thing is to implement what they agreed upon on the ground and avoid bringing more suffering to the people.

In April 2014, the two rivals agreed on forming a consensus government, which was named two months later. However, the two rivals kept trading accusations. Hamas said the consensus government turned its back to the Gaza Strip while the government said Hamas refused to hand over security control in Gaza. Endit