Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s exiled rival took part in a public meeting with Hamas members of parliament for the first time in a decade.
Mohammed Dahlan was Abbas’s ally inside the Fatah party until they fell out, with Dahlan expelled in 2011. He now lives in exile in the United Arab Emirates and has been moving closer to Gaza’s rulers Hamas in recent months, with rumors he could join a government in the Palestinian enclave.
Dahlan attends today’s meeting via video link, while seven of his allies in Gaza attended in person — along with 22 Hamas members, according to Hamas’s media office.
He says he had been talking with Hamas to reach “understandings which are able to restore hope to the people of Gaza and alleviate their suffering.” Dahlan adds that talks with the Islamists were going well “but we are still at the beginning of the road.”
Abbas, the internationally recognized leader based in the West Bank, has sought to isolate both Dahlan and Hamas terrorist organization. Reconciliation between Hamas and Dahlan would be seen as a blow for Abbas.
— AFP
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