Facts, News, Trends, Analysis
Tense relations between Egypt and Hamas have soured after Cairo for the first time openly accused the Islamists of torpedoing Palestinian reconciliation talks.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit was quoted as saying on Thursday that months of Egyptian-mediated talks between rivals Hamas and Fatah failed in November because of “Hamas’s lack of enthusiasm toward reconciliation.”
As the [...]
Egyptian police have found a cache of explosives in Sinai that were probably destined for the Gaza Strip, a security official said. Police seized about 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of TNT, and dozens of mortar rounds and anti-tank grenades on Saturday after a tip-off from local residents near the Gaza border.
“They were probably being prepared [...]
Fatah, the Palestinian party of Mahmoud Abbas, staged a ’show of force’ on Sunday at Ain el-Helweh, a Lebanese refugee camp. This camp is the largest of Lebanon’s 12 refugee camps and also the site of recent conflicts between Fatah and other groups, including last Thursday’s fatal shooting of a Fatah member by an Islamist [...]
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the Associated Press that Egypt sent invitations to attend power-sharing talks in Cairo. The invitation targeted Abbas’ Fatah movement, Hamas and smaller groups.
Talks should start on November 9 and both Fatah and Hamas representatives will attend the negotiations although Abbas has shunned Hamas since the group seized Gaza in June 2007.
The two [...]
Hamas today freed 35 members of the Fatah party detained in Gaza. The interior ministry spokesman in Gaza said that “the 35 prisoners were released to mark the holiday of Eid el-Fitr, celebrating the end of the Ramadan fasting month, and to reinforce Egypt’s mediation.” The Egyptian mediation referred to are the talks between Egyptian [...]
On Thursday last, the Palestinian President sent 500 members of a security force for training in Jordan. The training is being funded by the U.S. and the force will be trained for several months in police tactics. This is the second battalion from President Abbas’s National Security Force to receive this type of training funded [...]
Infighting between militant political parties in the Palestinian territories has recently taken to a tragic new venue. As hostilities between the Palestinian West Bank-based Fatah party and rival Islamist faction Hamas continue to intensify, Gaza’s hospitals have emerged as an additional arena in which the two groups are able to engage one another using mutually [...]
As the possibility of a negotiated settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems increasingly unlikely to occur by the end of the year, Palestinian citizens continue to urge their officials to conduct a strategic reassessment of the situation and their goals for the disputed territory.
Support for the current consensus solution under discussion, which proposes the creation [...]