Just in:
TUMI Hosts Global Launch Event in Singapore to Unveil Women’s Asra Collection and Announce Global Ambassador, Mun Ka Young // Samsung Electronics Launches 2024 Neo QLED 8K, Neo QLED, and OLED Displays to Spark the AI Screen Era // 2024 Lok Sabha Elections Will Be The Costliest One Till Now In The Whole World // Andertoons by Mark Anderson for Thu, 28 Mar 2024 // Samsung Partners National Heritage Board to Bring a Slice of Singapore’s Cultural Heritage to Samsung The Frame TV // US reiterates concern over Kejriwal arrest, Cong accounts // Universal Language for Healthcare: General Authority Embraces Global Coding System // Andertoons by Mark Anderson for Fri, 29 Mar 2024 // Saudi Arabia Unveils Green Financing Tool to Achieve Net-Zero Goals // Infineon and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering jointly develop ship electrification technology // Emirati Aid Reaches Ukraine as Food Shortages Bite // Melco Style Presents “SANRIO CHARACTERS STUDIO CITY CARNIVAL” – Explore a SANRIO World of Unlimited Love and Cuteness // French Leaders Gather for Interfaith Iftar Dinner // CABSAT 2024 Ushers in 30 Years of Media Innovation // Digital Hub Unveiled: Xposure Launches Platform for Global Photography Community // U.S. Compliance Takes Center Stage at OKX Following Industry Jitters // First-Ever Fortune Innovation Forum Draws Top Global Leaders to Hong Kong, Promoting Agendas On Collective Cross-Sector Advancement // Sharjah Chamber Breaks Ground on Final Expansion with New HQ Pact // Octa seeks to clarify Forex swap and swap-free accounts // Following the Money Trail: US and UK Investigate $20 Billion in USDT Transfers Tied to Sanctioned Russian Exchange //
HomeNewsboxMahmoud Abbas Proposes Palestinian Unity Government With Hamas

Mahmoud Abbas Proposes Palestinian Unity Government With Hamas

01abbas web1 facebookJumbo

Photo

Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, center, was greeted by fellow Fatah members on the second day of the Fatah party conference, in Ramallah, the West Bank, on Wednesday.

Credit
Majdi Mohammed/Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority that operates in the West Bank, proposed on Wednesday the creation of a temporary unity government along with Hamas, the militant rival faction that controls the Gaza Strip.

In a three-hour address at a conference of his Fatah party, Mr. Abbas sought to push forward long-stalled efforts to reconcile the two major competing Palestinian factions, and to present an image of unity amid wide discord outside the hall where he spoke.

ADVERTISEMENT

Mr. Abbas invited Hamas to send representatives for negotiations to bridge the divide, and he thanked Khaled Meshal, the organization’s political chief, for offering a supportive message that Mr. Abbas passed along to the conference. A month after meeting with Mr. Meshal in Qatar, Mr. Abbas told his supporters that the two parties should form a joint government to be followed by presidential, legislative and other elections.

“Our national unity is our safety valve, and I call on Hamas to end the division,” Mr. Abbas told the party conference. “There will not be a Palestinian state without Gaza.”

It is uncertain whether the two sides can follow through on a unification proposal, or would want to. Hamas stunned Fatah with its victory in legislative elections in the West Bank and Gaza in 2006, and then seized control of Gaza in 2007, driving its rival party out of the strip altogether. A half-dozen reconciliation agreements since then have fallen apart.

Even if they did agree to mend fences, it might only complicate efforts to make peace with Israel, which, along with the United States and other nations, deems Hamas a terrorist organization. President-elect Donald J. Trump could take an even dimmer view of working with Hamas, given his strongly pro-Israel statements during the campaign.

Mr. Abbas said in his speech that Mr. Trump was elected by the American people and, therefore, would be their leader. He added that he did not know Mr. Trump, but that he hoped the president-elect would pursue efforts to fairly resolve the Palestinians’ conflict with Israel.

Mr. Abbas also used the occasion to defend himself against critics who have accused him of working too closely with Israel. He was assailed in recent weeks first for attending the funeral of Shimon Peres, the former Israeli president and prime minister who helped broker the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, and then for providing firefighters to help Israel put out blazes ravaging its countryside.

“I am not sorry that I went to President Peres’s funeral,” Mr. Abbas said. “Representatives of 70 nations participated, and why not us? I’m also not sorry, and don’t need to apologize to anyone, for sending our firefighters to help our neighbors to put out the fire. I feel very strongly as neighbors this is a human obligation.”

Continue reading the main story

NYtimes

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT