Palestinian agreement angers Israeli PM, report

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying on Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority must choose whether it is interested in peace with Israel or reconciliation with Hamas. (more…)

Palestinians agreed to end 4-year-old rift

Palestinian officials from the rival Fatah and Hamas movements say they have reached an initial agreement on ending a four-year-old rift that has left them divided between rival governments in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. (more…)

Hamas, Fatah agreed to continue discussions

Fatah Secretary in Lebanon Fathi Abu al-Ardat told NBN television on Monday that the Fatah representative in Damascus Azzam al-Ahmad said that most issues have been agreed on with Hamas. (more…)

Israel arrests a Palestinian official

According to Al-Arabiya television Israeli police arrested Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad in Jerusalem on Tuesday , the day Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyah is meeting with US president Barack Obama, to discuss the improvement of the peace prospects  between Israel and the Palestinians. (more…)

Abbas urged Hamas to endorse the reconciliation pact

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has urged Hamas to endorse a reconciliation pact drawn up with Egyptian mediation, AFP reported on Tuesday, citing the Egyptian news agency. (more…)

Israeli court frees senior Fatah official on bail

Israel on Thursday released a senior Fatah official and 11 more Palestinians on bail five days after arresting them for participating in a demonstration in the West Bank, a lawyer said.

Tens of officials from the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ s party and supporters waited Abbas Zaki, a member of Fatah central committee, after he arrived in the city of Ramallah and chanted slogans supporting the popular struggle against the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a Xinhua photographer said. (more…)

Abbas accuses Iran of blocking Palestinian reconciliation

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas lashed out at Iran on Friday, blaming Tehran for being behind the latest failure to reconcile his secular Fatah movement with its Islamist rival Hamas.

“Iran doesn’t want Hamas to sign the Cairo reconciliation document,” Abbas said during a meeting in the Tunisian capital.

Fatah and Hamas struggled for months to reach a unity deal under Egyptian mediation, but the efforts collapsed late last year when Hamas refused to agree to a proposal that was signed by Fatah. (more…)

A Senior Fatah leader visits Gaza

A senior Fatah leader on Wednesday returned to Gaza for the first time since the territory was seized by the Islamic militant Hamas in 2007, saying he hopes to help end the rift between the bitter rivals.
Nabil Shaath, a Gaza native, was set to meet with senior Hamas officials, including Gaza strongman Mahmoud Zahar. As he crossed into Gaza from Israel, he handed his passport to Hamas border guards for registration in a powerful symbolic recognition of Hamas authority. Washington Post

No clear plan for resuming peace talks with Israel, says Fatah official

A Palestinian Fatah party official said Tuesday no clear scheme has emerged to resume Israeli-Palestinian peace process despite intensified efforts to restart the talks.

Fatah to prevent Al-Qaeda from infiltrating Lebanon camps

Sultan Abul Aynain , Fatah’s commander in Lebanon accused external parties of seeking to “export” fundamentalists to Palestinian refugee camps across Lebanon.
“We have taken measures to prevent al-Qaeda from infiltrating Palestinian refugee camps after we received information that external parties were seeking to export extremists, particularly from Iraq,” Abul Aynain said in an interview with AFP.