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Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas have made a breakthrough in their talks in Cairo aimed at breathing life into their unity government, negotiators from both factions said on Thursday. Neither party provided any details of their talks, but said that they would make an official announcement later in the day.
Both Fatah and Hamas representatives, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that an agreement was reached between the two parties. They also said that the agreement will focus on vesting the unity government with more powers so that it could govern Gaza without any hindrances. They added that the groups had agreed that the Palestinian Authority will oversee Gaza crossings to allow the flow of humanitarian aid and construction material, in view of the international donor conference coming up in October.
The talks, which began on Wednesday, occurred after an Israeli and a joint Palestinian delegation had agreed to hold indirect talks in October to come to an agreement on permanent peace in the Gaza Strip, on the heels of this year’s 50-day war between Israel and Hamas.
In June, Fatah and Hamas had agreed to and created a government of independent technocrats, but since have been at loggerheads, with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas threatening to end the unity government after accusing Hamas of running a “parallel government” as the de facto ruler of Gaza. In turn, Hamas accused Abbas’ Palestinian Authority of not paying its employees in Gaza.
The talks between Fatah and Hamas were crucial as the Palestinian groups needed to set their internal divisions aside before their important indirect meeting with the Israeli delegation in October.
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators, under Egyptian mediation, had on August 26th agreed to a ceasefire to end the 50-day war. They had also agreed to hold future talks on all Palestinian demands to end the blockade of the Gaza Strip and on prisoner exchanges.
