RAMALLAH: Fatah and Hamas, the leaders of the occupied West Bank and Gaza respectively, have set a date for talks concerning unity, reports DPA. February 19 will be the date that the two rival factions will meet to discuss forming a new unity government, a Fatah Official said Tuesday. Azzam Ahmad told reporters that the talks will take place in Cairo next week and are expected to last until the end of March. By this time, the update of voter registries will presumably be finished. Following the update, Abbas will issue two decrees; one will announce the names of the new cabinet ministers and the other will set a date for presidential and legislative elections. These elections are meant to take place three months after the decrees. This would mean Palestinians voting for the first time since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. Ahmad stated that Fatah and Hamas have largely agreed on contested issues such as oversight of security forces in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The two factions have been severely divided since 2007 when Hamas defeated forces loyal to Fatah and Abbas. Since then, there have been sweeping arrests of Fatah loyalists in the Gaza strip and Hamas members in the West Bank. Abbas, “Hamas opposes elections at this point" Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has outlined the agreement between Hamas and Fatah, reports Maan News. “An agreement has been reached with Hamas that we form a unity government to be headed by me, then we have parliamentary elections and Palestinian National Council elections three months after the Central Elections Commission is ready for elections,” he told newly elected mayors at a meeting in Ramallah Unity is in “the national interest", Abbas said, but “our brothers in Hamas do not want us to carry out elections at this stage.” After the decrees are issued the Palestinian Authority will be governed by a cabinet of technocrats headed by Abbas. Then Palestinians will have chance to deliver the “final word" through elections. Abbas went on to say that he hopes the United States helps break the statement between Israel and Palestine. Hamas' Prime Minister Khaled Meshaal commented that if Washington is serious about “changing the current political scene, stopping the bloodshed in the region, and lifting the injustice on the Palestinian people in order to achieve real peace," it must remember that “peace is based on justice, equity and restoration of rights." As of February 13, approximately 70,000 have registered to vote in Gaza. BN
