' fill='%230E4F97'%3E%3Cg id='Group-5' transform='translate(370.000000, 11.000000)'%3E%3Cg id='avatar' transform='translate(6.000000, 4.000000)'%3E%3Ccircle id='Oval' cx='8' cy='4' r='4'%3E%3C/circle%3E%3Cpath d='M7.12864205,10 L8.87135795,10 C11.558649,10 14.0087196,11.5384024 15.1762205,13.958831 L16,15.6666667 L16,15.6666667 L15.3374858,17.5134983 C15.228016,17.8186575 14.9774027,18.051811 14.6651459,18.1389975 L8,20 L8,20 L1.33485405,18.1389975 C1.02259733,18.051811 0.771984007,17.8186575 0.662514216,17.5134983 L0,15.6666667 L0,15.6666667 L0.823779545,13.958831 C1.99128041,11.5384024 4.44135104,10 7.12864205,10 Z' id='Rectangle'%3E%3C/path%3E%3C/g%3E%3C/g%3E%3C/g%3E%3C/g%3E%3C/svg%3E)
UN ‘carefully optimistic’ on Fatah-Hamas reconciliation
Mideast peace envoy says improved ties between PA and Gaza-based terror group will strengthen those who want Israeli-Palestinian peace
The top UN envoy for Israeli-Palestinian peace hailed improving relations between Fatah and the Hamas terror group after Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah visited the Gaza Strip for the first time in two years.
The visit came weeks after an Egypt-brokered deal, under which Hamas, which runs the Strip, would cede civilian power to Hamdallah’s internationally recognized Palestinian Authority.
Multiple previous reconciliation efforts have failed, but the UN envoy for the Middle East peace process, Nikolay Mladenov, told AFP there were real reasons to believe they could buck the trend.
He pointed to the “real political will” from both Hamas, considered a terror group by Israel and the US, and Fatah, which dominates the PA, as well as active Egyptian mediation and the focus on smaller confidence-building measures as reasons to be positive.
“I am carefully optimistic, I am not underestimating any of the massive complications and difficulties that can arise along the way,” he said.
“But if the region stays engaged, if Egypt’s role continues and if the political parties themselves continue to show the willingness they are currently showing to work with us on this process, then it can succeed.”
He called for international governments to back a PA-led government in Gaza financially.
“This is an effort to strengthen the forces of moderation in a region that is in the middle of massive turmoil,” he said.
“Returning the government back to Gaza strengthens the hand of those who want peace and who want to achieve peace between Palestine and Israel, and who want to do that on the basis of negotiations rather than violence.”
Hamas seized Gaza from the PA in 2007 in a near civil war, and the division between the two is seen as a major obstacle to a meaningful peace process with Israel.
While the PA accepts Israel’s right to exist, Hamas remains committed to Israel’s destruction.
Asked whether the United States would accept reconciliation between Hamas and the PA, Mladenov said it was too early for such discussions.
Along with the EU and Israel, the US views Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008, as a terrorist group.
