Hamas accepts extending Abbas' presidency for additional six months

Thursday October 09, 2008 12:36 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

In a contradiction to frequent statements by Hamas leaders regarding their rejection of extending the presidency of Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas delegates participating in the first day of the Cairo dialog said that the movement accepts extending the Abbas presidency for an additional six months, the Palestine News Agency reported.

Cairo

The agreement is part of an Egyptian reconciliation plan that aims to achieve comprehensive Palestinian reconciliation in order to end the ongoing rift between Hamas and Fateh.

The agreement is considered part of an Egyptian Road Map Plan but is still not finalized and further meetings are needed to achieve a comprehensive deal.

Parts of this plan include concessions from both the Hamas and Fateh movements in order to form a unity government, reform security devices, and resolve several other issues such as the Rafah terminal and extending the term of Abbas in office.

Some of the main points of the new deal are;

Allowing Abbas to remain in office for additional six months that could be renewed if needed.

Hamas agrees on the Quartet's conditions regarding organizing the Rafah terminal and allowing Abbas' security forces to be deployed there.

An agreement to form a unity government which is not a government of technocrats, and Hamas would participate in the government with a strong presence that allows the movement to participate in decision making and grants it an active ability in governmental and political sectors.

The new government should be in charge of reforming and rebuilding the security devices.

Reforming the PLO will be postponed until after the new legislative and presidential elections.

Senior sources reported that the main points of the plan were presented to Hamas during the talks which started yesterday morning and is expected to last for three days.

Egypt hosted meetings with eleven Palestinian factions before holding a meeting with Hamas and all factions agreed on the necessity of forming a government run by independent figures and is capable of breaking the siege and running the daily affairs.

They also agreed on the importance of unifying all Palestinian authority institutions and preparing for new presidential and legislative elections in addition to reforming the Palestinian Liberation Organization to include all factions and to hold elections for the Palestinian National Council.

Egypt will present a detailed document which includes all the points of agreement to be discussed in the comprehensive meeting which will be held in Cairo and will include all factions depending on the results of talks between Hamas and Egyptian officials.

arab world | palestinian politics | news report saed at imemc dot org