Hamas, Fatah to meet in Cairo on November 21

CAIRO – 7 November 2017: “Hamas Movement’s leaders have been informed of an upcoming meeting with Fatah leaders in Cairo,” said the spokesman of Hamas Hossam Badran on Tuesday.

Badran revealed the upcoming meeting for all Palestinian factions is shecudled to take place on November 21, adding that “this meeting should dicuss all domestic and central issues.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday as Abbas took part in the World Youth Forum (WYF) which kicked off on Saturday.

Abbas’s visit is considered the first after Egypt brokered a deal between Fatah and Hamas in mid-October to advance reconciliation.

Late in October, a delegation from the National Palestinian Government, headed by director of the Border Crossings Authority, Nazmi Mehanna, arrived in Cairo to discuss taking control of the Egypt-Gaza border crossing from Hamas, a high-profile official requesting anonymity told Egypt Today on Sunday.

The delegation’s visit comes in the aftermath of the recently achieved inter-Palestinian reconciliation, which was brokered by Egypt. As per the condition, the Palestinian Authority should assume responsibility of all border crossings by November 1.

On October 3, the consensus government held its first cabinet meeting in Gaza.

Despite a number of attempts to reconcile the Palestinian split led by international and Arab efforts, only Egypt, with its historical and political position, was able to bring an end to this nightmare. Egypt managed to bring the conflicting Palestinian factions together to overcome their differences, creating new conditions away from the fear of exclusion.

Egypt helped the factions realize that they need to move forward towards a partnership based on the fact that Palestine is for all Palestinians.