Hamas says new efforts underway to resume national dialog among Palestinian factions

The head of the political bureau of the Hamas resistance movement says new efforts have been made aimed at resuming national dialog among various Palestinian factions to reach reconciliation for achieving national unity.

“National unity is the cornerstone of confronting the Zionist occupation and its plans aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause and canceling our rights to land, sanctities, and return,” Ismail Haniyeh said in a press statement on Friday, the Palestinian Information Center reported.

He added that Hamas was establishing “internal and external contacts” with the Fatah political movement and other national and Islamic factions in a bid to turn the efforts aimed at resuming national dialog into “success” against the Israeli regime.  

Haniyeh also noted that what has been done is aimed at fulfilling the requirements of unity by rebuilding the Palestinian leadership institutions, whether the Palestine Liberation Organization or the Palestinian Authority, on the basis of partnership and national consensus.

“This must be achieved according to the will of the Palestinian people through free and fair elections,” the top Hamas official added.

Back in September, Haniyeh strongly urged all Palestinian factions to sew up their differences in the face of measures targeting the Palestinian cause by the United States, Israel, and treacherous Arab regimes.

The Palestinian leadership has been divided between Fatah and Hamas since 2006 when the latter scored a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in the Gaza Strip. Hamas has ever since been running the coastal enclave, while Fatah has been based in the autonomous parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Previous reconciliation attempts by the two sides to form a power-sharing unity government in Gaza and the West Bank have so far failed.

Hamas has repeatedly said it is ready to accept key reconciliation conditions offered by Abbas while underlining its “desire to achieve national unity.”

Last year’s talks between Palestinian factions were inspired by the treacherous step taken by two Persian Gulf Arab states — the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain — to normalize their ties with Israel through US-brokered deals.