CAIRO, August 7, 2011 (WAFA) - Azzam Al-Ahmad, chief of Fatah delegation to the reconciliation talks with Hamas, Sunday said that talks between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo, which was under the Egyptian auspices, were successful, particularly that they achieved clear outcomes, which can be built upon.

In a press conference, following the session of talks, al-Ahmad, who is also Fatah central committee member, said that “we are optimistic, and today we have completely accomplished the fourth article of the agreement, regarding the societal and civil reconciliation.”

He added, “Today's meeting was very successful and it revived the reconciliation agreement, hindering all attempts to fold it. Our adherence to this agreement was also confirmed in this meeting.”

Al-Ahmed explained that this meeting came after consultations that lasted for several weeks between Fatah and Hamas, as they contacted with the coordination of Egypt.

He said, “We discussed all the agreement’s articles and we agreed to take practical steps in some of them, starting with implementing the fourth article, which concerns the lives of citizens, such as the issue of detainees in Gaza and the West bank.”

Both sides expressed their satisfaction on what has been achieved so far in the detainees’ issue, as they solved 80% of it, though they will continue working to completely solve it before holidays (Eid Al-Fitr), he said.

He added, “We also discussed some issues regarding citizens’ passports and mobility in Gaza and abroad as well as Palestinians who are overseas against their will due to the division and the situation in Gaza, stressing that it’s their right to return. What we have achieved today is considered significant, especially in building confidence and promoting the agreement.”

He pointed out that they agreed to follow up on remaining issues, such as forming the government and the election committee, in a later meeting in early September.

Regarding the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO’s) issue, al-Ahmad said that it is associated with the government’s issue, which they will continue discussing in their next meeting.

Concerning naming the prime minister, al-Ahmad said that they reviewed all the agreement’s terms, which are the government, societal reconciliation, elections, security and PLO; however, they only accomplished the fourth term, regarding the societal reconciliation. Remaining issues will be discussed in their next meeting, he said.

“In light of what we agreed upon today, we will immediately start preparing for a quick and parallel meeting in Ramallah and Gaza, which will include all the factions that signed this agreement, to implement what we agreed on regarding the fourth term, with committing with what is literally stated in the reconciliation agreement,” said al-Ahmad.

On his part, Member of the Hamas Movement Political Bureau, Izzat al-Rishq said that the talks with Fatah were fruitful and positive.

He said, “We discussed all the files, especially building confidence between the two sides, a number of sub issues and significant topics that are vital for the Palestinian citizen, most importantly the political prisoners’ issue, the deprived of passports and traveling, and all social issues related to the division, which need to be agreed upon.”

He said that it has been agreed upon the necessity of releasing the prisoners before the holidays (Eid Al-Fitr) and following up on those still detained after determining the reasons of keeping them imprisoned.

He added, “Concerning the passports, we agreed to completely solve this issue. Freedom of travelling is a personal issue and a full right of Palestinians; any security side must not be allowed to deprive Palestinians from this right.” “We agreed upon mechanisms and forming special committee from both sides to accelerate and resolve this issue in the next phase.”

He pointed out that there are technical problems due to the state of division; including lack of connection between computers in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and that they will work on linking these computers in less than two months.

M.G./F.R.