Egypt meeting first step to completing dialogue: Concluding statement

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies + Al Mayadeen
30 Jul 2023 23:01

The head of the political bureau of Hamas stresses the importance of continuing such meetings until the completion of the comprehensive national formula.

A group photo of Palestinian factions' leaders in the Egyptian city of El Alamein, on July 30, 2023 (WAFA)

In the concluding statement of the meeting of Palestinian factions in the Egyptian city of El Alamein, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas thanked Egypt and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for hosting the meeting.

Abbas pointed to the Egyptian President's keenness that the joint Palestinian efforts be crowned with success, on the road to ending division and achieving Palestinian national unity.

He also thanked all brotherly and friendly countries that have made efforts to reach a comprehensive national agreement.

The Palestinian Authority President considered the meeting a first and important step to complete the Palestinian dialogue, hoping that it would achieve the desired goals as soon as possible.

Accordingly, Abbas called for the formation of a committee to complete the dialogue on the various issues and files that were discussed earlier on Sunday.

A later statement from Abbas said he "hopes for an upcoming meeting soon in Egypt to announce to our people the end" of the 17-year split "and the return to Palestinian national unity."

During the meeting, participating factions discussed reaching a comprehensive plan and forming a unified comprehensive leadership to confront the Israeli occupation.

It is noteworthy that the Egypt meeting was boycotted by three Palestinian factions, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, in protest of the continuation of political detention in the occupied West Bank.

In a speech, Abbas said elections are "our only means of sharing responsibility and national participation, and we want to hold presidential, legislative, and National Council elections today before tomorrow, provided that our people in occupied East Al-Quds can participate in these elections as candidates and voters without any obstacles, as happened in the years 1996, 2005 and 2006."

The Palestinian Authority President accused the Israeli occupation of obstructing the holding of the elections, calling on the international community to "oblige Israel" to allow the elections in occupied Al-Quds.

He indicated that the continued Israeli aggression "obliges us all to rise to the level of true national responsibility and to work on unifying our national front so that we can confront this occupation that targets our existence, our rights, and our sanctities."

Elsewhere, the Palestinian Authority President called for unity and joint Palestinian action, in order to achieve the goals of the Palestinian people, stressing that this work must be based on clear principles and foundations to end the division, achieve unity, and arrange the internal front.

Haniyeh stresses importance of continuing similar meetings

On his part, the head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, said during the meeting that the Palestinian people "are facing an exceptional stage in the course of the struggle with the enemy, which requires us to think collectively and take exceptional decisions in the face of Zionist policies."

In his speech, Haniyeh stressed the importance of continuing such meetings until the completion of the comprehensive national formula, noting that the Israeli occupation government "wants to put an end to the struggle by all means possible, which is evident in its terrorist attacks on the Palestinian people."

Haniyeh stressed the need to develop appropriate national plans to strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in the city of Al-Quds and to support Resistance fighters in the cities of the West Bank.

Speaking to Al Mayadeen, Hamas official Ismail Radwan said the movement stressed during the meeting "the need to end the Oslo Accords and prohibit political arrests."

Touching on the relationship between Hamas and the PIJ, Radwan stressed that communication between the two movements did not stop until the last moments before the Egypt meeting, adding that "Hamas regrets that the atmosphere was not prepared for the PIJ and other factions to attend the meeting."

PFLP calls for ending bet on political solution with 'Israel'

In the same context, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Jamil Mezher, called for ending the bet on the possibility of reaching a political solution with the Israeli occupation or betting on the US administration, calling for rebuilding the PLO on national and democratic foundations, with the participation of all Palestinian factions.

During the El Alamein meeting, Mezher called for the implementation of the Palestinian national consensus decisions that were confirmed by the decisions of the national and central councils, which stipulated withdrawing recognition of the Zionist entity and abandoning the Oslo Accords, as an embodiment of the Palestinian national and popular will.

The PFLP official stressed the need for the immediate announcement of the formation of the unified national leadership for comprehensive Resistance, out of which popular protection committees branch out to protect Palestinian villages, camps, and cities from settlers' attacks and manage forms of confronting the Israeli occupation policies on the ground.

PIJ ready to visit Cairo after El-Alamein meeting

The Secretary of the Political Bureau of the PIJ, Nafez Azzam, confirmed that the movement's boycott of the meeting had a clear reason, which was the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to release Resistance fighters "who achieved a miracle in Jenin and humiliated the occupiers in the last battle," in reference to the Fury of Jenin Battle.

During a meeting of the Palestinian factions held in the Syrian capital, Damascus, Azzam said the PIJ was hoping that the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would respond to the demands to release detained Resistance fighters in the West Bank.

Azzam pointed out that the PIJ's boycott of the meeting does not mean that it aspires or seeks to form alternative bodies to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), calling for reforming the organization and involving all Palestinian factions in its institutions.

Elsewhere, the PIJ official expressed the movement's readiness to visit Cairo after the conclusion of the meeting with a delegation headed by PIJ Secretary-General Ziad Al-Nakhalah.

The Egypt meeting is the first of its kind, since the previous meeting, which was held simultaneously between the city of Ramallah in the West Bank and the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in September 2020, which witnessed a series of consensuses on plans for joint action, most notably stopping security coordination and revoking the Palestinian Aithority's recognition of "Israel" and activation of all forms of resistance.