Palestinian factions kick off reconciliation talks Tuesday in Cairo

CAIRO – 21 November 2017: Palestinian factions kicked off a two-day dialogue session on Tuesday in Cairo. This is the first step in the intra-Palestinian reconciliation that has been successfully conducted under Egyptian auspices.

The participating delegation will take part in talks to discuss five key issues, most importantly the reconciliation developments between Fatah and Hamas.

The other essential issues to be discussed include ending internal division, creating a new national unity government, elections and internal security.

In an emergency meeting Sunday, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah affirmed his full support to the Palestinian factions. He expressed his hopes of reaching an agreement on all issues to be discussed during the two-day meeting scheduled in Cairo to begin Tuesday.

There has been no Palestinian parliamentary elections since Islamist movement Hamas seized control of Gaza from Fatah in 2007. Hamas dominates the Palestinian Authority's government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In late October, a delegation from the National Palestinian Government, headed by director of the Border Crossings Authority, Nazmi Mehanna, arrived in Cairo to discuss taking control of the Egypt-Gaza border crossing from Hamas, a high-profile official requesting anonymity told Egypt Today.

The delegation’s visit came after the recently achieved inter-Palestinian reconciliation, brokered by Egypt.