Tens of thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza and the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday, calling for national reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.
The rally in Gaza was organized by the Palestinian Popular Campaign for National Reconciliation (PPCNR), the Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported. The rally’s goal was to prove that the Palestinian people can "bring about change in the internal political rivalry," said PPCNR’s ‘Abd Al-Mun’im Tahrawi.
Tahrawi said the demonstrators had urged the Arab League to include the Palestinian issue in its weekend summit in Damascus.
Meanwhile, crowds of people in Hebron participated in a march from Al-Quds Open University to the city’s Al-Manara Square. Several prominent Palestinian leaders representing different factions and Islamic forces took part in the rally. Palestinian flags were raised and participants shouted slogans calling for national unity.
The Hebron rally, organized by the Palestinian Centre for Democracy and Conflict Resolution (PCDCR), saw several leaders of various factions urging national unity.
Hamas and Fatah delegations met over the weekend in Yemen to attempt to resolve their differences. The two delegations signed an agreement to initiate negotiations on the basis of the Yemeni initiative, which called for the creation of a national unity government.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas was invited to meet United States President George W. Bush on April 24, local Palestinian media reported. The invitation came from Bush himself. During the visit Bush and ‘Abbas will discuss the peace process between the P.A. and Israel. The American consulate in Jerusalem has not yet verified these reports.
In Jordan 10 members of parliament submitted a bill calling for the cancellation of the peace agreement that Israel and Jordan signed in 1994.
The MPs explained that Israel had failed to recognize international resolutions, had not abided by the peace agreement’s principles, had launched a "war of annihilation" against the Palestinians and had continued its aggression against Islamic holy places.