Representatives of Hamas during a previous visit to Moscow (Reuters)
A Russian news agency said on Wednesday that representatives of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) will meet tomorrow, Thursday, in Moscow, to discuss the formation of a Palestinian unity government and the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.
On February 16, Russia announced that it had invited the leaders of the Palestinian factions - including Islamic Jihad - to talks in Moscow that would last for 3 days.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov announced at the time that all representatives of the Palestinians and all political forces that have representatives in various countries - including Syria and Lebanon - and the Fatah movement, represented by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, had been invited.
On February 18, during a meeting of the Palestinian leadership, Abbas welcomed the Russian invitation, and stressed the necessity of adhering to the political program of the PLO “and ending the consequences of the coup in 2007, and adhering to the principle of one authority, one law, one legitimate weapon, and peaceful popular resistance,” he said.
On January 19, a Hamas delegation headed by the head of the movement’s International Relations Office, Musa Abu Marzouk, held discussions in Moscow during the second visit of its kind since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza.
Moscow received a delegation from Hamas on October 26, weeks after the Palestinian resistance launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7.
According to observers, in recent years, Moscow has sought to maintain good relations with all actors in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but relations have become strained with Israel due to the aggression against Gaza and its declared refusal to establish a Palestinian state.
Forming a new government
The meeting of Hamas and Fatah representatives tomorrow, Thursday, in Moscow comes after the resignation of the Palestinian government two days ago, considering that the next stage requires the formation of a new government that focuses on the issue of national unity and strengthening national authority over the entire territory of Palestine, according to Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh.
However, the resignation of the Palestinian government came within the framework of international demands for a “technocratic government” not linked to the Palestinian factions that would later be responsible for the reconstruction of Gaza.
In this regard, the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Hossam Zomlot, told the British newspaper The Guardian that Qatar and Egypt are helping to form a new Palestinian technocratic government, amid consultations between all Palestinian factions, including Hamas.
Zomlot indicated that Hamas will not have members in the new technocratic government, but consulting with it shows that efforts are underway to find out whether Palestinian unity between Hamas and Fatah is achievable, as he put it.
He considered that the expected government would be "a purely technocratic government without factions, and it is designed to unify the Palestinians, their geography, and their political system."
Source: Al Jazeera + Reuters + British press