Fatah, Hamas to meet with Egyptian security chiefs in Cairo

CAIRO – 2 December 2017: Leaders of Palestinian factions’ have arrived in Cairo on Saturday to meet with Egyptian officials, according to well-informed sources.

Cairo airport sources, who asked to remain anonymous, revealed to Egypt Today that senior leaders of Fatah Movement and Members of its Central Committee in Ramallah have arrived in Cairo on Saturday, coming from Amman, in Jordan, in an unannounced visit.

“The Fatah’s leaders are expected to meet with Egyptian security leaders in Cairo,” the sources added.

Palestine’s Hamas Movement disclosed that it has received an official invitation from the Egyptian security apparatuses to visit Cairo.

“Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar will meet with Egyptian intelligence chiefs in Cairo upon an Egyptian official invitation,” according to Hamas’s statement issued on Friday.

On November 28, Fatah and Hamas agreed to delay final transfer of power of the Gaza Strip from Hamas to the Western-backed Palestinian government by ten days to December 10 to allow time to complete arrangements, official statements from both factions said.

In previous days the two sides had traded accusations of failing to respect the October 12 agreement which was supposed to see Hamas hand over all governing duties in the enclave to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority by December 1.

On November 27, an

Egyptian Security Delegation

visited the Gaza Strip to follow-up on the developments of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement signed recently between Hamas and Fatah under the auspices of the Egyptian authorities.

In October, Egyptian Intelligence, Chief Khaled Fawzy, paid a visit to Gaza where he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, and Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh.

On November 21 and 22, Palestinian national authorities and factions met in Cairo upon an Egyptian invitation to resume talks between Fatah and Hamas, with the iontention of finding common ground for the implementation of the next steps of their Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal.

It was agreed during the meeting that principles of the October 2017 Fatah and Hamas reconciliation would be adhered with in order to allow the government to carry out its responsibilities in the Gaza strip.

They also agreed to invite the Freedoms Committee that was formed in accordance with the May 4, 2011, reconciliation to resume its work immediately in Gaza and the West Bank.