Palestinian factions agree to continue dialogue to achieve a government of national unity
The Palestinian factions meeting this week in Moscow have agreed to continue dialogue to try to achieve national unity, according to a resolution released at the end of the meeting. Palestinian representatives, including delegates from Hamas and Fatah, have agreed that their meetings would “continue in future rounds of dialogue to achieve comprehensive national unity encompassing all Palestinian forces and factions within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization.” (PLO), the sole and legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” the text states. Those attending the meeting highlighted some “urgent tasks” facing the Palestinian people, including the cessation of “Israeli aggression” and the “genocide of the people” of Gaza and the West Bank.
Furthermore, they have highlighted the need to “lift the brutal siege” to which the Palestinian people are subjected and “force the Israeli occupation army” to withdraw from Gaza. Those attending the meeting in Moscow have also rejected any attempt to “separate the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, as part of efforts to deprive the Palestinian people of their right to self-determination.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday urged the Palestinians to unite to create their state, the only way to achieve lasting peace in the region, according to Moscow.
Representatives of Fatah and Hamas arrived in Moscow on Wednesday to try to overcome the internal division and negotiate the possible formation of a government of technocrats. This meeting took place after the Palestinian Government presented its resignation to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), this week. The decision – accepted by President Abbas, who has asked Prime Minister Mohamed Shtayeh to remain in office – opens the door to the “day after” that the US wants and is pressing for: that a reformed ANP and with new faces regain the international legitimacy necessary to take charge of the day-to-day life of the Strip after the end of the Israeli military offensive.
Russia has always supported the Palestinian aspiration to create an independent State on the borders prior to the Six-Day War of 1967, with its capital in East Jerusalem and in accordance with UN resolutions, which is why it offered its capital as its headquarters. of the meeting. Furthermore, Russia has been waiting for several months for a visit to Moscow from Abbas, whose influence in the mediation process between Israel and Hamas is almost zero, since he does not act as an interlocutor nor does he have direct control over Gaza, where the Islamist group ousted Abbas from power. the ANP in 2007.
Similar reconciliation consultations took place in 2019 and 2017, when Fatah and Hamas demanded that Abbas form a national unity government. (Agencies)