Palestine: Al Fatah & Hamas gather tomorrow to discuss security at the Gaza Strip
Source: Resumen Medio Oriente (with information from Europa Press, Palestina Libre, HispanTV and Reuters) / The Dawn News / October 9, 2017
The negotiators of the main Palestinian factions, Al Fatah and Hamas, reunited on Tuesday in Cairo to analyze the security situation in the Gaza Strip, in the frame of the reconciliation conversations that must allow the conformation of a unity governments and the aperture to elections.
The initial idea is that 3.000 Al-Fatah agents join Gaza’s security forces -controlled until now by Hmas- in the term of one year, as it was foreseen in the agreement signed on 2011 that wasn’t fully applied.
The new approach seeks to open the doors of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority, which since 2007 only has influence on West Bank.Both parties hope that this gesture helps to ease the pressure that Egypt and Israel are currently exercising on the Gazan frontier, a pressure that is the main responsible of the critical humanitarian situation lived at the coastal territory, where 2 million people live.
A spokesman of Hamas, Fawzi Barhum, explained on Monday that the two factions were going to discuss “security issues, specially related to Gaza”, with the objective of “strengthening the Rule of Law in a professional and national way”, with no sectarism.
Nevertheless, Hamas will remain as the most powerful Palestinian military faction, with an estimated force of 25.000 combatants. A spokesman of the party, Sami Abu Zuhri, clarified to Reuters agency that “armed resistance is not under discussion”, meaning that nothing would change in the relation with Israel.
The conversation at Cairo will help to begin setting the bases for the presidential and legislative elections, and for the reform of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, an organization that does not include Hamas and responsible of the deadlocked peace conversations with Israel.
Past Friday, the National Government of Palestinian Consensus formally took the administrative control of Gaza Strip.
Hamas’ spokesman, Abdul Latif al Qanou, assured that the movement “will always cooperate” with the consensus government and that “it is ready and willing to facilitate the ending of unsolved matters”, according to Palestinian news agency Maan.
Palestinian prime minister, Rami Hamdalá, announced on Tuesday that his government will assume the responsibility of all the Gaza sectors “in full cooperation and association with all the Palestinian factions and forces”.
The Palestinian president, Mahmud Abbas, said on Thursday that national unity will always be a primary objective for the Palestinian leaders, since “without it, there won’t be a Palestinian State”, and hopes that all the involucrated forces count with “good intentions” in order to achieve it.
On Thursday, Abbas expressed that there shall not be peace with Israel if the regime doesn’t free the Palestinian political prisoners.
Information from Palestinian non governmental organizations show that at least 6.500 Palestinians are prisoners at the jails of the Israeli regime. Thousands of people around the world and in Palestine have starred several protests to make the case for the liberation of the Palestinian prisoners.
HAMAS & Al-Fatah reach reconciliation agreement in Egypt
Source: teleSUR / The Dawn News / October 12, 2017
After the first meeting celebrated in Gaza on the first days of October, the delegation of the Al-Fatah movement met in Cairo with representatives of HAMAS.
The Islamic Palestinian Resistance Movement (HAMAS) affirms to have achieved a reconciliation agreement with the Palestinian Movement of National Liberation (Al-Fatah) in Egypt.
The Qatari news agency, Al Jazeera, reported the achievement of this historical agreement reached after HAMAS accepted the Al-Fatah conditions in September. An agreement leaded by Palestinian president Mahmud Abás, in favour of a reconciliation which includes general elections in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Back then, the HAMAS leader, Ismail Haniya, affirmed that the efforts towards a Palestinian reconciliation seeked to end the Israeli occupation of West Bank and the blockade of Gaza.
Since its arrival to power in 2007, HAMAS has fought in three wars launched by the Israeli regime against the coastal enclave, where it governs under an Israeli blockade.
Israeli artillery bombs Gaza Strip
Source: Al Manar / The Dawn News / October 9, 2017
Israeli forces launched artillery bombs against suspected locations of HAMAS in the Gaza Strip.
No victims were reported during the attacks on Sunday’s evening.
Israel affirms that this attacks were launched as a response to the rockets shot from the Gaza Strip, which landed without provoking any injury.
Israeli militaries often attack Gaza Strip, being civilians the main victims of these actions.
Israel has launched several offensives against the Palestinian coastal strip, the last one happening in July 2014. Military aggression, which ended on August 26, 2014, killed almost 2.200 Palestinians. More than 11.100 people were also injured during the incidents.
