Hamas terrorists met with representatives of Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss establishing a joint government after the war in Gaza ends.
The Hamas delegation was led by the terrorist organization’s chief negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, who is based in Qatar, a spokesman told Reuters. The deputy chairman of Fatah’s Central Committee, Mahmoud al-Aloul, a leading candidate to succeed Abbas, headed Ramallah’s contingent.
Talks focused on the “aggression on the Gaza Strip, and the challenges facing the Palestinian cause,” Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nono said.
A P.A. official familiar with the discussions in Egypt told Reuters that if no unity government was agreed, the terrorist groups could try to form a “committee” to run the Gaza Strip and manage its border crossings.
The proposed committee’s form and duties remain unclear, added the Palestinian Authority official, who asked not to be named.
On Sept. 25, P.A. Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa announced that Fatah had agreed to meet with Hamas terrorists in the Egyptian capital.
Mustafa said the discussion would focus on forging initial agreements “to arrange the situation” in Gaza. He confirmed his “readiness to administer the Gaza Strip the day after the war,” the Palestinian Maan news outlet reported, “without excluding anyone.”
The announcement came amid Saudi reports that the two factions had reached an initial deal on a joint “civil administration” in the enclave.
Among the forms of governance under discussion are an independent “administrative body,” a “government of technocrats” approved by all Palestinian terrorist groups and “a local body under the supervision of the current government,” meaning Hamas, the Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya television news channel reported.
In July, Hamas and Fatah announced a unity deal following talks in Beijing. The declaration was approved by 14 terrorist factions that took part in negotiations hosted by Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister.
“Today, we sign an agreement, and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity,” Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk said at the time. “We are committed to national unity, and we call for it.”
The United States State Department, which has been pushing for Palestinian Authority control over the Strip after the war, has rejected the idea of a unity government that includes Hamas.
“Hamas has long been a terrorist organization. They have the blood of innocent civilians—both Israeli and Palestinian—on their hands,” Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman, told reporters on July 23. “There can’t be a role for a terrorist organization.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has insisted that an “effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority” should govern Gaza—a move that Israel rejects because of Ramallah’s overt support for terrorism.
According to recent Arab polls, 89% of Palestinians support establishing a government that includes or is led by Hamas. Only 8.5% said they favor an authority that is controlled exclusively by Abbas’s Fatah movement.
