Officials from Fatah and Hamas have reached an agreement to end violence that led to the death of more than 30 Palestinians since the weekend.
The agreed-upon truce includes ending the display of arms on the streets, releasing people abducted on both sides and ending incitement campaigns, Mahmoud A-Zahhar, Hamas’ minister for external affairs, said.
The agreement was reached with mediation of an Egyptian security delegation and came into effect early Tuesday morning.
However, exchanges of fire continued in Gaza, despite the truce, the Palestinian Ramattan news agency reported.
Over the course of the past few days external Arab parties been making efforts to end the fighting.
Besides the Egyptian intervention, Saudi Arabia proposed to host officials from the rival parties in Mecca to help formulate an agreement. Both sides welcomed the initiative.
Talks are likely to begin on February 5 in a bid to reach an agreement before an Arab League summit in March, Palestinian sources told the London-based Al-Quds Al-‘Arabi.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas has decided to form a delegation to Mecca that will be headed by former prime minister Ahmad Qurei’, while the Hamas delegation will be headed by Khalid Mash’al, known as the head of Hamas’ political bureau in Damascus.
‘Abbas and Mash’al met last week in Damascus in an attempt to end the impasse between Hamas and Fatah. The leaders said the meeting was fruitful and positive.
However, they failed to agree on the formation of a Palestinian unity government.
Hamas came to power through legislative elections exactly one year ago. The group dominates the Palestinian parliament and government.
Most international aid to the P.A. was frozen after the rise to power of the hard line organization. Hamas has so far refused to fall in line with international demands to recognize Israel, denounce terrorism and acknowledge previously signed agreements with Israel.
Talks between the two factions have been going on for several months, but there are disagreements over the agenda of the future government and over power-sharing issues.