Non-Aligned Movement supports Palestinian reconciliation

CAIRO – 2 November 2017: The Non-Aligned Movement issued a statement on Thursday supporting Egypt's efforts in reconciling the different Palestinian factions, mainly Hamas and Fatah.

The agreement ensuring the assumption of the Gaza Strip administration by the National Consensus Government was signed on October 12 in Cairo.

The New York-based Coordinating Bureau of the movement comprising 120 members expressed its support for the Palestinian people and its cause to end the Israeli occupation, establishing its state within the borders existing prior to the Six Day War on June 5, 1967 with Eastern Jerusalem as its capital.

On October 12, Hamas and Fatah announced the signing of the final deal in Cairo regarding the reconciliation, officially ending the decade-long national split.

In mid-October, the Palestinian Prime Minister of the National Consensus Government formed in 2014, Rami Hamdallah, held his first cabinet meeting in Gaza after Hamas announced handing over the administration of the Gaza Strip to the unity government, a major step towards Palestinian reconciliation.

The West Bank and the Gaza Strip remained politically and administratively divided since June 2007, when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip and abandoned the Palestinian authority following days of street fighting.

The Non-Aligned Movement was founded in 1956 by Egypt, India, and Yugoslavia, rejecting the Cold War bipolarity between major power blocs. It is headquartered in Indonesian capital Jakarta and currently presided by Venezuela.