DOHA: Leaders from Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement discussed plans for cooperation after the conflict in Gaza in a new round of talks in Cairo on Wednesday, a Hamas official said.

“A meeting has just commenced in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, between the delegations of the Hamas movement... and the Fatah movement,” a Hamas statement read. It added that they were discussing “aggression on the Gaza Strip, the political and field developments, and to unify national efforts and ranks”. Two Fatah sources confirmed the meeting.

Hamas and Fatah are long-term rivals that fought a brief but bloody conflict in 2007 in which the former seized control of Gaza. Fatah continues to dominate the Palestinian Authority, which has limited administrative control over urban areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In July Hamas announced it had signed an agreement in Beijing with other Palestinian organisations, including rivals Fatah, to work together for “national unity”.

The talks are the first since the two groups met in China in July and agreed steps to form a Palestinian unity government for Gaza and the occupied West Bank. They are also part of long-running and previously unsuccessful efforts to heal a schism that hardened when Hamas seized control of Gaza in a brief conflict with Fatah in 2007.

The Hamas delegation is led by Khalil Al Hayya, the group’s Qatar-based second-in-command and chief negotiator, Hamas media official Taher Al Nono said. A Palestinian official said the Fatah delegation was led by Fatah’s second-in-command, Mahmud Al Aloul. There was no immediate comment from Fatah.

“The meeting will discuss the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, and the challenges facing the Palestinian cause,” Nono said.

The issue of the administration of Gaza after the end of the year-old Israel-Hamas conflict is one of the thorniest issues facing the Palestinians. Israel, which began its military campaign to wipe out Hamas in Gaza, has ruled out the group’s inclusion in a post-conflict administration.

It says it also does not trust the Abbas-led Palestinian Authority, which partially governs the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to do the job. The Palestinian factions say their post-conflict plans are an internal affair, and reject Israeli conditions.

Border crossings

A Palestinian official familiar with the talks said that if no unity government was agreed the groups might try to form a committee to run Gaza and help manage its border crossings. The shape and exact responsibilities of the proposed committee remained unclear, said the official.

Egyptian security officials said Egypt was urging both sides to agree on a mechanism to manage the crossing on its border with Gaza, closed since May. Cairo says a Palestinian presence must be reestablished at the border. It has been discussing plans for the border with the United States, alongside wider ceasefire negotiations that have now stalled.

Before May, Rafah was the only Gaza crossing not directly controlled by Israel. It had become an important entry point for humanitarian aid and an exit for medical evacuees. It was previously a gateway to the outside world for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents although Egypt and Israel tightly controlled movement through it.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2024