Palestinian president to meet Hamas leader in Cairo next week

Share:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that he plans to meet Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal next week, a move bound to upset Israel and the U.S.

The meeting, which is expected to take place in Cairo, will include discussion of the reconciliation agreement that rival factions Fatah and Hamas signed in May, which was supposed to set the ground for reuniting the West Bank and Gaza Strip under one leadership.

Talks would also include the formation of a government of technocrats to prepare for presidential and legislative elections, which could take place in May, Abbas said at a memorial event in Ramallah in honor of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Hamas pushed Palestinian Authority forces out of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. The authority controls the West Bank, while Hamas controls the Gaza Strip.

Abbas had wanted his current prime minister, Salam Fayyad, who has strong Western backing, to run the new government, but Hamas strongly objected.

“We will exert every effort possible to end the division, which has hurt our people and our cause,” Abbas said. “The people want an end to occupation. The people want an end to division.”

Reconciliation with Hamas could be costly to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority because of U.S., European and Israeli opposition to the group. The U.S. is among the countries that consider Hamas a terrorist organization. The Islamic militant group refuses to recognize Israel or renounce violence.

Abbas stressed that the U.S. and President Obama remain friends of the Palestinian people in spite of their strong support for Israel.

“The U.S. helps us financially and it provides us with considerable amount of aid,” he said. “Therefore, it is considered our friend.”

Abbas called on the U.S. to play a balanced role in resolving the decades-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He said he expects to discuss the future of the Palestinians’ political course with Meshaal.

“We will have to answer the question: Where are we going?” he said.

LAT

Share:

Comments

11 responses to “Palestinian president to meet Hamas leader in Cairo next week”

  1. This man really doesn’t want a state… Its going to be a shame when they lose everything because they just cant quit with the killing and indoctrination of the generations one after the other…

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      True enough. Hamas never wanted what was good for all the people – and even shot them if they didn’t do as they were told – which means how to live every moment of every day … and how to vote. Who controls even the food in Gaza?

      1. The Arab dictators, of course, were very happy to let ……. keep the minds of their people trapped, and, of course, were eager to spin the narrative that all the ills of the Arab world were due to Western interference and to Israel. 

         For a while the Arab people will keep blaming everybody except themselves, like they have done for so long.

         Right now the young and modern Arabs can only whisper that what the Arab world needs is precisely that: modern technology, which comes from modern education, which comes with modern governments. If you say it aloud, you are accused of being a puppet of the West and, worse, of desiring a state like Israel’s. So much for moving forward and for people to just live…..and live happy and in peace.

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar

          Indeed master09 –  Not only ‘modern’ in human philosophy, but freely able to access all the information available in this world opened by that technology. The hunger of the younger minds for knowledge cannot be denied to them forever.
          There will probably always be people who do not wish to see … but the ones who seek no longer wish to be stopped by them.

        2. 5thDrawer Avatar

          Indeed master09 –  Not only ‘modern’ in human philosophy, but freely able to access all the information available in this world opened by that technology. The hunger of the younger minds for knowledge cannot be denied to them forever.
          There will probably always be people who do not wish to see … but the ones who seek no longer wish to be stopped by them.

  2. This man really doesn’t want a state… Its going to be a shame when they lose everything because they just cant quit with the killing and indoctrination of the generations one after the other…

    1. 5thDrawer Avatar

      True enough. Hamas never wanted what was good for all the people – and even shot them if they didn’t do as they were told – which means how to live every moment of every day … and how to vote. Who controls even the food in Gaza?

  3. This man really doesn’t want a state… Its going to be a shame when they lose everything because they just cant quit with the killing and indoctrination of the generations one after the other…

    1.  Avatar

      True enough. Hamas never wanted what was good for all the people – and even shot them if they didn’t do as they were told – which means how to live every moment of every day … and how to vote. Who controls even the food in Gaza?

      1.  Avatar

        The Arab dictators, of course, were very happy to let ……. keep the minds of their people trapped, and, of course, were eager to spin the narrative that all the ills of the Arab world were due to Western interference and to Israel. 

         For a while the Arab people will keep blaming everybody except themselves, like they have done for so long.

         Right now the young and modern Arabs can only whisper that what the Arab world needs is precisely that: modern technology, which comes from modern education, which comes with modern governments. If you say it aloud, you are accused of being a puppet of the West and, worse, of desiring a state like Israel’s. So much for moving forward and for people to just live…..and live happy and in peace.

        1.  Avatar

          Indeed master09 –  Not only ‘modern’ in human philosophy, but freely able to access all the information available in this world opened by that technology. The hunger of the younger minds for knowledge cannot be denied to them forever.
          There will probably always be people who do not wish to see … but the ones who seek no longer wish to be stopped by them.

Leave a Reply