Hamas announced on Sunday that it had accepted an invitation from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to hold a meeting in Cairo of the heads of the Palestinian factions. The purpose of the conference is to discuss the possibility of establishing a new Palestinian unity government, in which all Palestinian factions, including Hamas, will be represented.
Mahmoud Abbas announced his intention to hold the meeting following the recent military operation in the Jenin refugee camp, and it is expected to take place at the end of this month in Cairo. Invitations were sent to the leaderships of all factions, including the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations. The conference was announced at the end of an emergency meeting held by the PA chairman in Ramallah, during which the Palestinian leadership discussed ways to achieve unity and formulate a comprehensive national vision in the face of "Israeli aggression."
Security preparations in Jenin ahead of Mahmoud Abbas' visit // Credit: Arab networks
Senior Fatah figures note that "despite the disagreements within the Palestinian home, national agreements must be reached in order to put an end to the schism." They do not rule out that one of the issues that representatives of the organizations will discuss at the conference will deal with advancing steps that will enable progress towards the establishment of a broad pan-Palestinian government. In this context, senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said that "Mahmoud Abbas calls on all factions to restore national unity as a basic step on the way to establishing a national unity government."
However, Ramallah says that "all members of any new government that is formed must be committed to the idea that the PLO is the legal and sole representative of the Palestinian people, as well as agree to the plans and decisions that the PLO has undertaken over the years." It should be noted that Hamas and Islamic Jihad do not recognize Israel or the Oslo Accords.
Hamas operatives in Gaza // Photo: AP,
The initiative has Egyptian backing, and given the importance of the conference, the possibility that Mahmoud Abbas will also attend is not ruled out. The last time a broad Palestinian government was formed was in 2014, headed by Rami Hamdallah, when Fatah and Hamas signed a reconciliation agreement in the Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, and a "government of national consensus" was decided. Prior to that, in 2006, the first national unity government headed by Hamas leader Ismail Haniya was established. These two governments did not last long due to conflicts between Fatah and Hamas.
Hamas' announcement today that the organization intends to participate in the conference came after the Palestinian Authority's security forces decided to release Sheikh Mustafa Abu Ara, a senior Hamas figure in northern Samaria, from detention. Abu Ara was arrested last Thursday, and Hamas threatened to boycott the Cairo gathering if the sheikh was not released.
Military parade of Hamas' military-terrorist wing // Photo: AFP,
While activists say he was suspected of slandering senior Palestinian PA officials and inciting the mob against senior Fatah figures Mahmoud al-Aloul and Azzam al-Ahmad, who were expelled from the funerals of Palestinians killed in the Jenin operation, others claim that the sheikh actually acted to calm the situation and prevent an attack on them. Either way, he was released, partly because of his health.
The release of the sheikh, a Hamas member, came as a goodwill gesture on the part of the PA to Hamas ahead of the conference, and to deny the organization any possible excuse to avoid the meeting. Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad continues to demand that the PA stop detaining its operatives in Judea and Samaria, as a condition for the participation of the organization's leadership in the conference.
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