Last update - 00:00 29/05/2007
Fatah agrees to hold meeting with Hamas officials in Cairo
By Associated Press
Fatah officials on Monday accepted a proposal from Egypt to meet with Hamas next week in Cairo in an attempt to end fighting between the two factions, the Middle East News Agency reported.
Abdel Hakim Awadh, a member of the Fatah delegation currently in Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials, told MENA that Egypt's security chief Omar Suleiman made the offer to the delegation Monday and Fatah accepted.
Fatah had previously refused the offer to meet with Hamas representatives in Cairo, instead saying that all of their meetings in Cairo will be with Egyptian representatives only.
Suleiman will make the same offer to Hamas when its delegation visits Cairo in the next few days, MENA reported Awadh as saying.
A delegation of Fatah representatives led by Rowhi Fattouh, Abbas' personal envoy, had arrived in Cairo Saturday evening. Leaders of the Hamas party were expected in Cairo this week for similar talks.
The Cairo discussions are part of preparatory bilateral talks that Egyptian leaders intend to hold with each faction separately ahead of a planned meeting that should bring together Hamas, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Fatah and Hamas reached a truce a little over a week ago to stem fierce
factional fighting that has killed more than 50 Palestinians, but tension between the two groups remains high.
Also on Monday, Egypt's foreign minister urged both Israelis and Palestinians to end the recent cycle of violence that has left dead and wounded on both sides, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit's comments were released following his
meeting in Cairo with a senior official from Fatah to discuss the security situation in the Palestinian territories.
In the statement, Aboul Gheit called Israel's use of force excessive and
demanded the Israeli side immediately halt all of its military operations in the Gaza Strip.
He also emphasized the necessity of stopping the launching of Palestinian
rockets, calling them a pretext for Israeli troops to carry out more military operations.
Aboul Gheit also discussed recent fighting between Fatah and Hamas when he met with Deputy Prime Minister Azzam al-Ahmed, the statement said.
The foreign minister said Palestinian infighting only benefits the Israeli side and supports its pretext that there is no negotiation partner.
In comments to reporters following his meeting with Aboul Gheit, al-Ahmed
agreed that Palestinian-Palestinian fighting has a negative impact. But he added that the stagnation in the peace process is not due to Palestinian local events, but these events are used by Israel and the United States to justify not moving the peace process.
Al-Ahmed also met with Suleiman, Egypt's security chief, to discuss ways to keep the cease fire and halt fighting among the Palestinians, he said.
Members of Hamas are expected to arrive in Cairo in the next few days for
similar talks with Egypt, a regional heavyweight and top U.S. ally that has been working to reconcile the Palestinian groups.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, said Monday on Al-Arabiya television that no agreement has been reached among the Palestinian factions or with Israel, which is alarming as it means more fighting and assassinations.
Aboul Gheit also met Monday with Michael C. Williams, the new U.N. Middle East envoy and urged the necessity of achieving solid progress in peace in the Middle East as the only guarantee of stopping violence and escalation among Palestinians and Israelis, according to a second foreign ministry statement.
Williams, who met with several Arab officials while in Cairo, expressed his support for Egypt's role in mediating between Fatah and Hamas.
"We welcome Egypt's efforts to regain stability in Gaza, which is of absolute importance," he told reporters Monday after meeting with Arab League chief Amr Moussa.