Hamas declares its position on the initiative of the factions to end the Palestinian division

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Thursday agreed to the vision presented by eight Palestinian factions last week to achieve national unity and end the internal political divide.

The head of the political bureau of the movement Ismail Haniyeh said during a conference held in the presence of representatives of the factions, that the approval is unconditional, and that the responsibility requires to push the wheel of unity and strengthen partnership and restore glare to the national project, and restore the Palestinian political system.

The Hamas leader pointed to the existence of modest observations on some of the contents of this initiative, but will not affect the approval of the movement.

He explained that this initiative comes at a sensitive historical juncture, and is based on a broad common denominator between the factions and took into account the experiences of initiatives and papers, and what could constitute a real breakthrough to restore unity.

Haniyeh expressed his wishes for success and completion of this initiative with the leadership of the Fatah movement, calling on the leadership to respond to the initiative, and at the end of his speech, the official approval of his movement on the initiative of the factions for reconciliation.

There was no official response from Fatah to the initiative, but some of its leaders said in press statements that the initiative was unnecessary and that Hamas must implement the recent reconciliation agreement, referring to the agreement signed by the two movements in Cairo on October 12, 2017.

This agreement did not find its way to implementation, because of disagreements on several issues, including the empowerment of the government in Gaza, and the file of Gaza employees appointed by Hamas.

Last Thursday, eight Palestinian factions announced a new initiative to end the division, namely the Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front, the Democratic Front, the People's Party, the National Initiative, a delegation, the Popular Front-General Command, and the Thunderbolt.

According to the factions, it sent its vision to four parties, namely Egypt through the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Minister Abbas Kamel, the Arab League through Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.