Translation of leaked Hamas-Fatah agreement

The reconciliation agreement signed on Thursday in Cairo by rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas was leaked by the Hamas-linked website Palinfo.

The agreement is meant to end 10 years of Palestinian division and begin a process of forming a unity government.

Following is an English translation of the leaked Arabic agreement:

In the name of God the Merciful,

An agreement by the Fatah and Hamas movements to end Palestinian division:

Based on the importance of cementing the principle of national partnership and giving priority to the public interest to achieve the hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people to end the division, to strengthen the national front and national unity, in order to fulfill the national project and end the occupation and establish a sovereign Palestinian state on all the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital and the return of the refugees, with a full commitment to the Basic Law, to maintain a single democratic and pluralistic political system, with a peaceful transfer of power through elections, and the protection of independent national Palestinian decision-making and respect for the sovereignty of states, and to welcome all assistance to the Palestinian people for reconstruction and development through the Palestinian government.

Fatah and Hamas held a series of meetings on October 10-11, 2017, under Egyptian auspices in Cairo, to discuss the issues of national reconciliation. The two movements agreed on the following:

(1) Completing procedures to enable the National Reconciliation Government (the Palestinian Authority) to fully exercise its functions and carry out its responsibilities in Gaza as it does in the West Bank by December 1, 2017.

(2) For the legal/administrative committee formed by the National Reconciliation Government to quickly find a solution to the issue of Gaza’s [government] employees, before the 1st of February, 2018, with the participation of experts and specialists knowledgeable of the Gaza Strip. While the committee works, the government will pay employees their salaries as paid to them currently effective November 2017, once the government is able to carry out its administrative and financial powers, including tax collection.

(Hamas, after it took over the Gaza Strip in a violent conflict with Fatah in 2007, hired tens of thousands of new civil servants because the Palestinian Authority told its employees not to go to work. This clause attempts to resolve what will be done with the overlap of civil servants.)

(3) Completing the process of allowing the National Consensus Government to take over all crossings of the Gaza Strip, including enabling Palestinian Authority staff to manage these crossings in full by January 11, 2018.

(4) Leaders of the official security services operating in the State of Palestine will go to the Gaza Strip to discuss ways and mechanisms for rebuilding the security services with relevant parties.

(5) A meeting will be held in Cairo during the first week of December 2017 to assess what progress has been achieved regarding the agreed upon issues.

(6) A meeting will be held on November 14, 2017, for all Palestinian factions that signed the agreement on “Palestinian National Accord” on May 4, 2011, to discuss all the reconciliation items mentioned in the agreement.

The deal is signed by the leader of the Fatah delegation Azzam al-Ahmad and Hamas deputy politburo chief Salah al-Arouri.

The Egyptians, who facilitated the talks in Cairo, released a press statement after the agreement was signed.

That statement said the reconciliation talks were being carried out in accordance with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi’s hope “to achieve an independent Palestinian state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital and a return for Palestinian refugees.”