Talks between rival Palestinian factions to resume in Algeria in October

Reconciliation talks between rival Palestinian factions to end more than 15 years of internal division will resume in Algeria in October, a senior Palestinian official announced.

Wassel Abu Yousef, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) executive committee, told reporters on Thursday in the West Bank city of Ramallah that the reconciliation dialogue in Algeria would include leaders of 14 Palestinian factions.

The Fatah Party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) will join the dialogue on October 2, he added.

"The aim of resuming the reconciliation dialogue is to end the internal division and regain unity among the Palestinians in order to face the current Israeli policy against the Palestinians," Abu Yousef said.

"Algeria and Egypt coordinated and sponsored the Palestinian reconciliation in order to ensure the success of reaching an agreement prior to the Arab summit slated for November in Algeria," he added.

He hoped that the dialogue would become successful in ending the internal division among the Palestinian factions, so they would overcome the challenges facing the Palestinian cause, Xinhua news agency reported.

In the past few weeks, Algeria hosted representatives of Palestinian factions in separate meetings in an attempt to prepare the groundwork for the upcoming dialogue.

In an effort to remove any potential barriers that would halt the Algerian efforts, Palestinian officials did not rule out the possibility of holding bilateral meetings between Fatah and Hamas leaders on the sidelines of the dialogue.

Palestinian observers believe that the dialogue in Algeria is an important opportunity for the Palestinian factions to reach an agreement and find a unified Palestinian position to confront Israeli policies.

In December 2021, Algerian President Tebboune announced that his country would host a gathering of Palestinian factions to unify the Palestinians.

The internal Palestinian division between Hamas and Fatah began in 2007 when Hamas forcibly took over the Gaza Strip from Fatah. Since then, the Palestinian territories have been split into a Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and a Fatah-dominated West Bank.

--IANS

int/khz/