Egyptian security delegation heads to West Bank

CAIRO – 6 December 2017: Egyptian security delegation heads to the West Bank on Wednesday to hold talks with Palestinian authorities and Fatah about the reconciliation process, according to Palestinian source.

After a 10-day visit to the Gaza strip, the delegation heads to the West Bank to follow up on the reconciliation process.

It was scheduled that the Palestinian Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah, will visit the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to follow up on the reconciliation process. However, after the announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding the possible relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, the Prime Minster decided to delay his visit.

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

In previous days, the two sides exchanged accusations for failing to respect the October 12 agreement. Hamas supposed to hand over all governing duties of the territory 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 intention of finding common ground for the implementation of the next steps of their Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal.