Palestinians to unite as Israel presses rival sides

Palestinians are looking to show unity amid pressure from Tel Aviv, which has continued raids on Hamas-ruled Gaza and has threatened to construct new settlements and freeze tax-fund transfers to Ramallah

In this file photo Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (2nd L) and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal (R) shake hands at a ceremony in Cairo, Egypt . AFP photo

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal will meet in Cairo on Nov. 25 for new reconciliation talks, a senior Palestinian official said yesterday, the same day rivals Fatah and Hamas agreed to hold elections to end their four-year rift.

The decisions come amid a series of new decisions by Israel, including inviting tenders for the construction of more than 800 new homes in east Jerusalem, approving a freeze on the transfer of $100 million in tax revenues owed to the Palestinians and making fresh raids on the Gaza Strip against militants.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Palestinian umbrella group dominated by Abbas’ Fatah party, said reconciliation efforts should be accelerated. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is not a member of the PLO.

“The PLO executive committee underlines the importance of making real progress to open the way for reconciliation and advancing toward holding ... elections,” it said in a statement. Abbas reiterated the organization’s statement and said efforts for the implementation of the reconciliation should be speeded up.

Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior Fatah negotiator, said the sides agreed on the election plan in secret talks and are expected to formally approve it later this month. The plan calls for the establishment of a caretaker government to prepare for the vote, most likely without current Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Abbas and Mashaal are expected to formally approve the election plan at a meeting in Cairo on Nov. 25, al-Ahmad said.

On the Israeli side, the Benjamin Netanyahu administration said Nov. 15 that it would invite tenders for the construction of more than 800 new homes in east Jerusalem. The Housing Ministry said it had published formal notice of its intention to invite tenders to build 749 housing units in Har Homa and another 65 in Pisgat Zeev, both settlement neighborhoods in occupied and annexed east Jerusalem. The Palestinians roundly condemned the move, with chief negotiator Saeb Erekat saying the new building proved efforts by the Middle East Quartet to renew peace talks had failed.

Before its settlement decision, Israel on Nov. 14 stopped the transfer of tax funds as punishment for the Palestinian’s successful bid for admission to the United Nations’ cultural agency, UNESCO.

Apart from these decisions, Israeli planes carried out two raids on the Gaza Strip overnight, wounding a Palestinian, a Hamas official said. The raids were on targets in Beit-Lahya and northern Gaza, said a member of the security service of Hamas.

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets into southern Israel on the evening of Nov. 15, damaging a farm outbuilding but causing no casualties, Israeli police said.

Compiled from AFP and AP stories by the Daily News staff.

Hurriyet Daily News