Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk revealed on Wednesday that Egypt has presented his movement and Fatah with a new reconciliation initiative.
Hamas has accepted the Egyptian proposal and is ready to implement it on the ground in an attempt to boost national reconciliation.
Abu Marzouk expressed wishes that Fatah’s response to the proposal would be fruitful and constructive.
Abu Marzouk said the proposal calls for the immediate lifting of sanctions imposed on the blockaded Gaza Strip and for working out the crises rocking the enclave.
The proposal also calls for allowing the Palestinian Authority (PA) government to assume its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip in accordance with previous “reconciliation agreements” signed between Hamas and Fatah he said.
Abu Marzouk added that the Egyptian proposal allows Hamas to collect taxes and tariffs in the Gaza Strip on behalf of the PA government and to pay salaries to its employees including members of the Gaza-based security forces.
Abu Marzouk called for the need to restructure home affairs and activate the Palestine Liberation Organization in an attempt to set mechanism for the effective implementation of the 2011 Cairo deal.
He said a Hamas delegation discussed with the Egyptian General Intelligence Minister Abbas Kamel several issues regarding the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
He said that the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate expressed during the discussions his desire to visit the Gaza Strip and work on assuaging its crises.
Abu Marzouk was part of a high-level Hamas delegation that was invited to Cairo last week for talks with heads of Egypt’s General Intelligence Directorate on ways of ending the Palestinian rift.
The Hamas delegation was made up of political bureau members Mousa Abu Marzouk Khalil al-Hayya Husam Badran Ezzet Resheq and Rawhi Mushtaha.
