Hamas, Fatah agree to end crisis
Palestine, Politics, 4/24/2006

The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, and Fatah (the past governing party, and that of the current Palestinian President), yesterday agreed to end a state of tension between them and reassert Palestinian national unity.

The agreement comes in the aftermath of Saturday's riots by Fatah supporters in protest against statements by Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal, accusing "elements" within the Palestinian Authority of conniving and conspiring with Israel and the US to topple the Hamas-led government.

On Saturday, Fatah gunmen and activists took to the streets, shouting anti-Hamas slogans and firing into the air in protest against Mashaal's remarks.
Palestinian civic and public opinion leaders denounced the disproportionate reactions by Fatah, calling the armed demonstration "totally unjustified."

The announcement was made during a press conference in Gaza in which two representatives from Hamas and Fatah, stated that the two movements agreed to form a joint committee that would deal with any tension or misunderstanding between the two sides.

The two movements also agreed that any future problems would be resolved peacefully.

Egypt said its good offices managed to end the recent crisis. In a prolonged meeting that lasted till the wee hours on the morning, the disputing parties agreed, in the presence of an Egyptian high-level delegation, to end this tension and cooperate to further establish Palestinian national unity. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit voiced on Sunday Egypt's concern over the latest violent confrontations between elements from Fatah and Hamas movements in the Palestinian territories.

Abul-Gheit further said that such acts did not reflect their sense of responsibility, saying "I could not imagine that the Palestinians need mediating parties to solve inter-Palestinian conflicts," calling on the Palestinians to shoulder their responsibilities, saying it was not possible to expect that matters would explode the way they did.

He also warned of the dire consequences of such confrontations to the Palestinian national action, urging all parties to honor their full responsibilities.

Hamas and Fatah urged Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniya and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to work out all divisive issues.

This comes as Israel arrested 13 Palestinians who are resistant to occupation from Nablus and Illar, said by Israel to be "terrorist" members of Islamic Jihad and Fatah. Also, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights spoke of the Israeli killing of two Palestinians in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

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