Fatah, Hamas Sign Pact to Halt Factional Fighting

By Joel Greenberg Chicago Tribune

JERUSALEM — Leaders of the rival Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement to form a coalition government Thursday in an effort to end months of factional fighting and lift international sanctions imposed on the Hamas-led administration.

The agreement, which followed talks hosted by Saudi Arabia in the holy city of Mecca, was signed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads Fatah, and Khaled Mashaal, the exiled leader of Hamas.

The agreement did not mention recognition of Israel, a key international demand, but an appointment letter from Abbas called on the new government to “respect” agreements signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization. Among them are the 1993 Oslo accords, which include a renunciation of violence and a recognition of Israel’s right to exist.

Israel, the U.S. and European nations have imposed economic sanctions on the Hamas-led Palestinian government, demanding that it recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept previous accords with the Israelis. It was unclear whether the Mecca agreement would be deemed to meet those conditions.

Miri Eisin, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Israeli officials would have to study the accord to understand exactly what was agreed.

“Israel expects the new Palestinian government to respect and accept all three principles of the international community: recognition of Israel, all former agreements and renunciation of terror and violence,” Eisin said.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said: “We’ll see what any final agreement actually looks like and we’ll have to make an evaluation from there. In terms of what the outcome of those discussions look like and whether they meet the Quartet principles, I think we’ll just have to see.”

The so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators — the U.S., the United Nations, the European Union and Russia — have made future aid to the Palestinian government conditional on its acceptance of the international conditions.

The Palestinian agreement, reached on the second day of marathon talks mediated by the Saudis, set out principles of the coalition government and divided up Cabinet posts. Abbas’ appointment letter asked Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to form the new “national unity government.”

The signing ceremony was hosted by Saudi King Abdullah in a palace overlooking the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine. The Saudis, a key U.S. ally, have been pushing to end internal Palestinian bloodshed and move toward a resumption of Palestinian-Israeli talks to reduce Middle East tensions worsened by the conflict in Iraq and the confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program.

As part of the deal, the Saudis promised the Palestinians $1 billion in aid, according to Ahmed Youssef, a political adviser to Haniyeh, The Associated Press reported. Olmert, Abbas and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are to meet Feb. 19 for talks on ways to revive peace efforts.

The agreement says the coalition government’s platform will be based on a document drawn up last summer by Fatah and Hamas leaders held in Israeli prisons. The document calls for a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with a capital in East Jerusalem.

Using language agreed by both sides, Abbas’ appointment letter calls on the new government “to commit to the higher interests of the Palestinian people, preserve its achievements as affirmed by successive Palestine National Council sessions and resolutions of the Arab summits, and to respect the agreements of the PLO.”

Hamas has said in the past that it would respect previous agreements if they conformed with the “higher interests of the Palestinian people.” The Arab League summit in Beirut in 2002 adopted a Saudi initiative that calls for recognition of Israel and normal ties with it in exchange for its full withdrawal from the territories it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, establishment of a Palestinian state and a “just solution” to the Palestinian refugee issue.

Under the coalition agreement, Hamas will propose an independent candidate for the post of interior minister, who controls key branches of the security forces, and the candidate will be approved by Abbas.

Salam Fayyad, an American-trained economist, would become finance minister, a post he has held before, and Ziad Abu Amr, an independent lawmaker and former academic who is close to Hamas, would be named foreign minister. A Fatah member will be named deputy prime minister.

In all, Hamas will get nine Cabinet posts, Fatah will receive six, and other factions will get four.

The agreement is designed to end a bitter power struggle between Abbas and the Hamas-led government that has deepened since the militant Islamic group was swept to power in elections a year ago.

The political impasse triggered months of fighting between militias loyal to Hamas and Fatah, in which 130 people have died since May. The latest gunbattles in the Gaza Strip killed more than 30 people and wounded more than 200 in four days before a cease- fire took hold Sunday.

News of the coalition agreement set off celebrations in Gaza. Hundreds took to the streets, drivers honked their horns, gunmen fired in the air and fireworks lit the sky.

“This is the first step toward breaking the siege imposed on the Palestinian people,” Haniyeh said at the signing ceremony in Mecca.

Abbas, whose had called for new elections in the absence of an accord, said the agreement would “satisfy our people … and bring us to the shores of peace.”

Mashaal said the accord will “unify our ranks” and put an end to violence after a series of failed cease-fires.

“I tell those who fear that the fate of this agreement will be the same fate of the old ones … we have pledged our allegiance to God from this sacred place,” he said. “We will go back to our country fully committed to” the new understanding.

(c) 2007 Deseret News (Salt Lake City). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.