 Fatah has agreed at initial talks with Hamas to try find common ground for a governing partnership between the long-dominant Palestinian faction and the group that crushed it at the polls. The head of Fatah's parliamentary faction, Azzam al-Ahmad, said on Wednesday that "there is an agreement in principle and the intention is there (to participate in a coalition) but we must aawait the programme".
| Good idea. Form a government of national unity. That always works wonders. |
Al-Ahmad was speaking on Wednesday after a meeting between senior Hamas and Fatah figures in Gaza City. "We are in a dialogue that has only just begun and we want to find common ground and we hope that we will seal an agreement," he said.
| "I mean, we both like killing Jews. That should count for something, right?" |
Hamas swept to victory in the 25 January election on a platform of rooting out corruption in a Palestinian Authority dominated by the mainstream faction.
| Fatah blew the election by arguing over how to split the boodle before their competing candidates had snatched it. |
Outlining what appeared to be a major sticking point, al-Ahmad told Reuters that Fatah would insist a Hamas-led administration adopt President Mahmoud Abbas's vision of negotiating peace with Israel. Hamas's Mahmoud al-Zahar, who hosted the session with Fatah, said the two groups would meet again so that a coalition could be formed "as soon as possible". Hamas, sworn to Israel's destruction, has said talks with Israel would be a waste of time. |