Damascus – The supreme political leader of Hamas Khaled Mishaal has expressed optimism that the formation of a PA unity government was only a matter of time as Hamas and Fatah agreed on the main pillars of that government.
Mishaal’s optimism came as he met with former PA prime minister and Fatah senior leader Ahmed Qurie in the Syrian capital Damascus Sunday night where both leaders discussed a number of issues including the reactivation of the PLO.
For Mishaal the meeting was part of the efforts the two main factions in the Palestinian street Hamas and Fatah were exerting to rearrange the Palestinian home especially the formation of the PA coalition government and the rebuilding of the PLO on new basis based on the political variables in the Palestinian arena.
During the meeting Mishaal telephoned PA chief Mahmoud Abbas adding that Hamas-Fatah contacts were continuing in a bid to come out with one and united stand over details of the unity government.
But the head of Hamas political bureau refused to give details of the discussions explaining “We want to finalize all matters before publicly announcing the agreement to our people and the entire world”.
“Our main objective is lifting the unjust economic siege on our people enhancing our internal front and turning a new page in the inter-Palestinian relations among other goals before focusing on equally important national issues including Jerusalem the apartheid wall in the West Bank the right of return to Palestinian refugees and the PLO among other national projects” Mishaal asserted.
Responding to a question whether or not Hamas will join the PLO soon Mishaal affirmed “I and Abu Ala [Qurie] agreed on the matter today and hopefully a preparatory committee in this regard will be formed of all Palestinian factions to agree on the details before establishing the mechanism which we have announced in Cairo last year to start the reactivation of the PLO”.
But he unequivocally underlined that Hamas will never budge from the national constants of the Palestinian people asserting “Hamas has expressed its clear positions on the matter [recognizing the Hebrew state and agreeing to deals signed with Israel] and therefore I think Hamas doesn’t need to elaborate more in this direction”.
“We will continue the march in the right direction; thus the world has no option but to respect the Palestinian will” Mishaal underscored.
For his part Qurie described his discussions with Mishaal as “positive and constructive” expressing optimism that the unity government will soon be achieved and the repressive siege will be lifted.
He also acknowledged that reactivating the PLO became a national imperative that must be met without further delay.
Yet when Qurie was asked whether the Palestinians received international guarantees to end the siege he replied “There are positive signs from the international community that the siege will be lifted once the PA coalition government is established and [PA] president Abbas received international assurances in this framework”.
