After 15 years, Fatah and Hamas agree on Palestinian elections
The agreement signed in Turkey, after days of negotiations mediated by the Ankara government. Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled, as well as the presidency of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas leader: "Real consensus reached". The effects of the "Abraham Agreements" are also on the table.
Ramallah (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Palestinian extremist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and the rival Fatah movement, which governs the West Bank, have reached an agreement to hold general elections.
Sources on both sides confirmed the deal which represents a turning point in the local political scene, in the face of a vote that has been almost 15 years in the making and postponed several times in the past.
According to the initial rumors, presidential and parliamentary elections will be held within the next six months. The agreement was signed by the leader of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas, and by the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh after days of talks and negotiations in Turkey, aimed at smoothing out the profound differences between the parties with the mediation of the government of Ankara.
The last elections were held in 2006, when the Palestinian extremist movement won control of Gaza by surprise after forming a short-lived government of national unity with Fatah. The separation between the two fronts triggered violent clashes and, the year following the vote, the expulsion of Fatah's representatives from the Strip.
Jibril Rajoub, a high-ranking official of Fatah, underlines in a note that, together with the presidential and parliamentary elections, the highest local and authority offices will also be renewed: among these the Palestinian Legislative Council, the presidency of the Palestinian Authority itself and, finally, the Palestinian National Council.
Speaking to AFP Saleh al-Arouri, one of the leaders of Hamas, confirmed that the agreement is the result of intense negotiations that took place this week in Turkey. “This time - he says satisfied from Istanbul - we have reached a real consensus”.
Earlier this month, the leaders of the two Palestinian factions had reached an agreement to initiate in-depth discussions on the so-called "Abraham Agreements", aimed at normalizing relations and diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (and Bahrain).
An agreement mediated and relaunched by US President Donald Trump also in an internal electoral key, exalted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and disavowed by the leaders of Ramallah, excluded from all negotiations, who called the agreement a "stab in the back".
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