Hamas, Fatah Reach Breakthrough Agreement on Nat’l Reconciliation

Palestinian rival groups, Hamas and Fatah, reached an important agreement in their unity talks on Wednesday.

During the closed-door talks between Hamas and Fatah, the two resistance factions agreed on national reconciliation and a “national unity government”.

The two sides agreed to hold talks on the formation of a national unity government on the condition that the negotiations do not last more than five weeks.

Hamas and Fatah also agreed to hold talks about holding parliamentary elections in a period of six months. They also set the condition that the parliamentary elections should be held at most by January 15, 2015.

Hamas was represented by Gaza government chief Ismail Haniyeh and Moussa Abu Marzouq, a political official dispatched to Gaza from Egypt to attend the negotiations.

Al-Fatah sent Azzam al-Ahmad, who came from the West Bank with representatives of other factions within the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

The division between the two Palestinian factions began in 2006, when Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections. Fatah did not accept the election results and started clashes with Hamas in the following year, leaving Hamas in control of the Strip and Fatah in control of parts of the occupied West Bank.

The groups have made failed attempts at national reconciliation for years, most recently in 2012, when they signed two agreements — one in Cairo and a subsequent one in Doha — which have as of yet been entirely unimplemented.