The main Palestinian parties today announced a deal to form a national unity government prior to the holding of elections, after three days of reconciliation talks in Moscow.
“We have reached agreement under which, within 48 hours, we will call on (Palestinian leader) Mahmoud Abbas to launch consultations on the creation of a government” of national unity, senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad tells a press conference, speaking in Arabic.
Ater the government is formed, the Palestinians would set up a national council, which would include Palestinians in exile, and hold elections.
“Today the conditions for (such an initiative) are better than ever,” says Ahmad.
Abbas’s secular party Fatah and the Islamist Hamas have been at loggerheads since the latter seized Gaza in a near civil war in 2007.
The last time the Palestinians staged elections in which both Hamas and Fatah took part was in 2006.
— AFP
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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
