Remaining Palestinian factions agree on Hamas-Fatah deal

May 3, 2011, 11:57 GMT

Cairo - Eleven Palestinian factions on Tuesday approved the Egypt-brokered reconciliation deal between the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement and its rival, Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah party.

According to Fatah sources, representatives of the 11 factions were in Cairo to sign the deal. The official ceremonial signing is set to take place in the Egyptian capital on Wednesday.

Hamas said it had approved the plan last week, whereas Fatah had stated its support of the reconciliation plan in October 2009.

Meanwhile, the mufti of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, Mohamed Hussein, arrived in Cairo on Tuesday with a delegation of 10 Palestinians from the Fatah-administered West Bank city of Ramallah.

In addition, a group of Palestinians also arrived in Cairo on Tuesday from the Syrian capital of Damascus, where a number of leading exiled Hamas officials live.

The two Palestinian rival factions agreed last week to form an interim government in the lead-up to elections, in a reconciliation deal mediated by Egyptian intelligence after years of bloody infighting.

The agreement calls for the interim government to be made up of 'independents' of whom both groups approve. The caretaker government will call elections to form a unity government in one year.

Egypt has frequently mediated talks between various Palestinian factions since the two main parties began feuding in 2006, when Hamas beat Fatah in parliamentary elections.

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