RAMALLAH, October 16, 2017 (WAFA) – The Fatah Central Committee held on Sunday night in Ramallah a meeting chaired by President Mahmoud Abbas to discuss the latest developments since the signing in Cairo of the reconciliation accord with Hamas, Fatah’s deputy head Mahmoud Aloul said on Monday.
He told the official Voice of Palestine radio that the Central Committee reasserted during the meeting the terms of the agreement reached last week with Hamas in Cairo under Egyptian auspices aimed at reaching national unity and end to the division that plagued the Palestinians since the 2007 Hamas armed takeover of power in the Gaza Strip.
Aloul said Fatah was closely watching steps to empower the reconciliation government in the Gaza Strip, pointing out that a meeting will be held in the coming days for the committees concerned with the issue of Gaza employees and security.
President Mahmoud Abbas had told the Central Committee meeting that the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas is a national necessity that must be fulfilled in order to meet the challenges facing the national cause and to achieve Palestinian hopes and aspirations in ending the division and strengthening the home front.
Abbas stressed that the reconciliation is important to achieve national unity in order to end the occupation and establish the Palestinian state on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Regarding reports that a Fatah delegation is going to the Gaza Strip, Aloul explained that the matter is not final yet stressing that no date has been set for such a visit.
He said however that once reconciliation is enforced on the ground it will be possible for whoever wants to go to Gaza to do so without having an agenda for that.
The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization is also expected to hold a meeting later Monday in Ramallah chaired by President Abbas.
Executive Committee member Ahmed Majdalani told Voice of Palestine radio on Monday that the top point on the meeting’s agenda is the reconciliation and steps to implement the 2011 Cairo Agreement in order to strengthen the home front to face the challenges, most notably the Israeli settlements project that is eating up Palestinian land.
Commenting on recent Israeli settlement decisions and plans to build thousands of settlement units, Majdalani said that the Israeli government is using settlements as a tool to undermine the two-state solution and block any future political process.
He stressed that the leadership treats the settlements file as a priority issue and plans to raise it in the international arena and specifically the International Criminal Court.
K.T./M.K.
