Little progress made in Cairo
Palestinian leaders left the Egyptian capital Cairo yesterday after fresh unity talks that resulted in calls for elections but provided little clarity about a key transfer of power in Gaza next week.
Analysts said a three-page document agreed between the 13 largest Palestinian political parties Wednesday offered little substantive change, with no steps agreed on key points of difference.
They said questions would now be raised over the fate of an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation agreement signed last month between the two largest parties, Hamas and Fatah.
Under that deal, Islamists Hamas are supposed to hand over power in the Gaza Strip to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority by December 1.
Significant issues remain, however, including the future of Hamas's armed wing and punitive measures taken by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas against Gaza.
Wednesday's statement provided few further details, though it called for Abbas to organise elections by the end of 2018 and backed the October 12 Fatah-Hamas agreement.
Hamas has controlled Gaza since seizing the coastal enclave from Fatah in 2007, and its armed wing has since fought three wars with Israel.
In a sign of dissatisfaction, a senior Hamas figure who was in Cairo said Wednesday the talks had resulted in "no practical steps" forward.
In a video published online, Salah Bardawil said Israel and the United States had put pressure on Fatah not to implement reconciliation, and it was therefore unwilling to make concessions to Hamas.
Israel and the United States have declared they will not accept a Palestinian unity government including Hamas unless it disarms.
He later backtracked, claiming he was emotional and was not aware he was being filmed when he spoke.
Measures taken by Abbas to isolate Hamas in recent months, including reducing the subsidy for electricity supplied to Gaza, have also been sources of contention.
Sources within the delegations said Fatah was pressed to drop the sanctions as an indication of good will, but it refused.
Analysts expressed concern that hopes for unity were fading.
"They didn't solve a single issue, even the simplest," said Najee Sharab, professor of political affairs at Azhar University in Gaza.
"The statement by Bardawil, despite his retreating from it, is a strong signal of disagreement."
Several previous reconciliation attempts have failed in the past decade.
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