Fatah signs Palestinian national reconciliation deal
05:13 15/10/2009 GAZA, October 15 (RIA Novosti) - The ruling Palestinian movement Fatah signed on Wednesday a national reconciliation deal called upon to end the conflict with its rival Islamist faction Hamas controlling the Gaza Strip, local media reported.
Hamas is expected to sign the deal on Thursday. Egypt is a mediator between Hamas and Fatah, in charge of the Palestinian West Bank. It also mediates in prisoner swaps between Hamas and Israel.
In early September, Cairo put forward a new document to reconcile the two largest Palestinian factions, which split in June 2007 when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip and pushed the Fatah movement out of the enclave. The six previous rounds of reconciliation talks had resulted in failure.
The document envisions general elections to be held in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in the first half of 2010, a reform of Palestinian security services under the Egyptian control and the release of political prisoners by both factions.
Armed clashes between Fatah and Hamas came some 18 months after Hamas had won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006. Fatah has renounced violence, while Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and reserves the right to use violence in its struggle to create a Palestinian state.
Reconciliation talks resumed after Israel's assault on Gaza at the turn of the year, which saw some 1,300 Palestinians killed and 5,000 injured.
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