SANAA (AFP)
Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah reached a Yemeni-brokered deal on Sunday to open their first direct talks since the bloody seizure of the Gaza Strip by Hamas nine months ago.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said he was ready to host the dialogue from early April but warned that negotiations to reach a detailed reconciliation accord would be "difficult".
The so-called Sanaa Declaration was signed by Fatah parliamentary leader Azzam al-Ahmed and Hamas number two Moussa Abu Marzuk.
It aims to end the bitter standoff between the long-time rivals since Hamas drove forces loyal to the Fatah party of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas out of Gaza in a week of deadly street battles last June.
The plan, which calls for a return to the status quo that existed before Hamas's seizure of the impoverished territory had looked doomed just days ago.
"The two movements Hamas and Fatah have agreed to accept the Yemeni initiative as a framework for dialogue between the two movements and a return of the Palestinian situation to what it was before the events in Gaza," the declaration said.
The text, read to journalists by Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kurbi, said the dialogue also aimed to "reconfirm the unity of the Palestinian homeland in terms of its land, people and the Palestinian Authority."
As well as the restoration of the national unity government in power before the Hamas takeover and the re-establishment of the Palestinian leadership's authority over Gaza, the Yemeni initiative also provides for early elections.
"The agreement will begin to help build trust between Fatah and Hamas and the rest of the Palestinian factions," said Saleh, adding that the deal would be discussed at the upcoming Arab summit.
"What was signed here today will be included in the agenda of the Arab League meeting in Damascus. God willing, it will become an Arab initiative rather than a Yemeni one," said the president.
Hamas's action -- denounced as a coup by Abbas -- effectively split the Palestinian territories into two separately ruled entities, and the Palestinian president had refused any talks until the Islamists relinquished the territory.
There was no immediate comment from Abbas's administration, whose power base remains limited to the occupied West Bank.
In Gaza City, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri confirmed the agreement but stressed it was only a framework.
"That means it is a framework for dialogue and not a set of preconditions for implementation. The dialogue will focus on the Palestinian situation, and not only in Gaza," he told AFP. |
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Israel, Gaza and peace The humanitarian situation in Gaza has become increasingly precarious because of a punishing Israeli blockade on the tiny enclave of 1.5 million people sandwiched between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel has been negotiating only with the Abbas administration since peace talks were revived at a U.S. conference in late November, although they have made little headway since.
But it refuses to engage in talks with Hamas, which is pledged to the destruction of the Jewish state and is branded a terrorist group by Israel and the West.
In addition to the embargo, Israel launches frequent strikes on Gaza in a bid to stop militant rocket fire, and last month more than 130 Palestinians and five Israelis were killed in an explosion of violence around the territory.
The Islamists have been involved in separate talks with Egypt about establishing a truce with Israel and reopening Gaza's borders to the outside world.
The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been closed almost continuously since the seizure of the territory, which Israel withdrew from in 2005 after 38 years of occupation. |
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June takeover Tensions between the two Palestinian groups have mounted since Hamas swept parliamentary polls in January 2006, dealing a stunning to the long-dominant secular Fatah.
The feud worsened amid a Western aid boycott of the Hamas-led government and a steadfast refusal by the Islamists to cede to demands to recognize Israel, renounce violence and past peace agreements.
It boiled over into major deadly street battles in December 2006, after Abbas called for early elections to try to resolve the standoff.
The two sides agreed to share power in a Saudi-brokered deal in February 2007, with a coalition cabinet installed a month later.
But mutual distrust meant the cohabitation did not last long and all-out street battles marked by an unprecedented level of violence erupted in June, leading to the Hamas takeover and Abbas's sacking of the unity government headed by Ismail Haniya of Hamas. |
