PLO rejects Hamas input on unity deal

A Fatah Central Committee official demands that Hamas should sign an Egyptian-brokered unity deal rejecting Hamas demands to modify the agreement.

Azzam al-Ahmad, who is also the unity talks official, claimed Sunday that he has not received new suggestions for the reconciliation deal from Hamas, demanding that Hamas should first ratify the deal and later negotiate on potential amendments.

“So far, we haven’t felt that any substantial changes have been made by Hamas toward signing the Egyptian reconciliation document,” Al-Ahmad said, speaking to the Ma’an Radio Network on Sunday.

Al-Ahmad’s comments came after senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahhar remarked on Sunday, that “Hamas is awaiting a response from Fatah and the Palestinian Authority to a mechanism suggested by Hamas to push forward reconciliation efforts between both sides.”

Hamas has maintained that changes should be made in the agreement before it can ratify it. One of the main demands, it said, is the restructuring of the Palestine Liberation Organization or Fatah.

Speaking to the London-based Arabic language daily Asharq al-Awsat, Zahhar said that new suggestions were conveyed to Fatah but it did not provide a response.