Egypt has made efforts to end the Palestinian rift and has recently stepped up efforts to bring Hamas and Fatah closer.
By Rasha Abou Jalal | Al-Monitor | Jul 25, 2019
‘The Palestinian reconciliation will remain idle if it’s not based on a partnership that ends the monopolization of the rule by one party or the other.’
— Abdullatif al-Kanou, Hamas spokesperson
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Cairo is resuming its efforts to reconcile the Fatah and Hamas Palestinian factions, taking a somewhat more hands-on approach to solving the main problem.
The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank wants Hamas to give up administrative control of the Gaza Strip, including ministries, security, courts, border crossings and tax collections. But Hamas refuses to oblige and is asking for partnership in managing Palestinian affairs on the civil, security and political levels.
An Egyptian security delegation headed by Ministry of Intelligence Undersecretary Ayman Badih visited Ramallah on July 11 and met with Palestinian General Intelligence Services chief Majed Faraj, who is also a member of the Fatah-affiliated Reconciliation Follow-up Committee. The delegation then headed to the Gaza Strip the next day to meet with Hamas leadership, and returned to Ramallah on July 13 to meet with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and discuss the outcome of the talks.
Since 2012, Egypt has made huge efforts to end the Palestinian rift, but no real pact has ever been sealed. They came close to an agreement in October 2017 in Cairo, but disputes between Fatah and Hamas soon resurfaced. Hamas didn’t allow the consensus government to take over responsibility in the Gaza Strip, and the PA didn’t pay the salaries of Gaza’s government employees who were appointed by Hamas following the 2007 rift.
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