Palestinian unity deal postponed for "several weeks" (Roundup)

Oct 11, 2009, 13:46 GMT

Cairo - An agreement to end the split between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas has been postponed for 'several weeks,' Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit confirmed Sunday.

'(Hamas) asked to postpone the signing for several weeks,' Abul Gheit told reporters after meeting US Mideast envoy George Mitchell in Cairo.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Fatah, which controls Palestinian-administered areas of the West Bank, had agreed to sign an Egyptian-brokered compromise agreement to end their two-year-old feud on October 25.

Egyptian intelligence officials have been brokering talks between the two factions since March. An agreement would help pave the way for the disbursement of international aid for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and for the possible resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

It might also allow for the relaxation of the two-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip, by transferring responsibility for the Palestinian side of the border to a joint security force comprised of Palestinian and other Arab security officers.

Israel and Egypt closed the borders to the territory after Hamas security forces took control of the territory from security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction in 2007.

Many international donors have stipulated that no reconstruction aid can fall into the hands of Hamas, which the United States and the European Union list as a terrorist organisation.

Hamas on Wednesday asked Egypt to postpone the date of the signing ceremony until Abbas apologised for withdrawing his support for a vote in the UN Human Rights Council to refer South African jurist Richard Goldstone's findings on January's fighting in the Gaza Strip to the UN General Assembly.

The 575-page report concluded that Israel and Hamas committed war crimes. If the motion had passed, such a vote would have been the first step toward war crimes tribunals.

On October 2, Palestinian, Arab and Muslim representatives to the Human Rights Council dropped support for a motion to refer the report's findings to the General Assembly, following US lobbying.

Hamas spokesman Ismail Haniyah blasted that decision as 'reckless.'