Mash'al in Cairo: Hamas-Fatah talks to resume in October
Published today (updated) 06/09/2009 15:14
www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=223978

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Hamas-Fatah negotiations toward restoring Palestinian
unity will resume in October, senior Hamas leader Khalid Mash'al said during
a news conference in Cairo on Sunday.

Mash'al was speaking alongside Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa
after the two held meetings on the internal Palestinian conflict.

The Hamas leader, who lives in exile in Syria, said that Hamas and Egypt
agreed to proceed with talks with Fatah movement, but said the group would
not accept new elections before a deal is reached.

He said Egypt is to submit a proposal regarding a potential deal to Hamas
and Fatah, which will be the basis for negotiations in early October.

Mash'al said his "two days of talks in Cairo with the chief of Egyptian
Intelligence services, Omar Suleiman and the Secretary-General of the Arab
League focused on two main topics: Palestinian reconciliation and the
Arab-Israeli conflict."

Deal first, elections later

Regarding elections, he said, "We found a clear Egyptian understanding of
the necessity to go forward with the option of reconciliation, and to
proceed with elections afterward when the reconciliation is stable."

"Presidential and legislative elections cannot be held before a
reconciliation agreement is reached," he said. "We warned against the risk
of holding any arrangement within the PLO to hold elections apart from an
agreement [isolating] the issue in the West Bank and leaving out Gaza."

"We are about to take steps toward reconciliation and Hamas is serious in
reaching an agreement," he said.

Mash'al blamed Fatah for the lack of an agreement. "During my previous visit
[to Cairo] we had agreed on the files of conciliation, then an obstruction
took place, but not from Hamas."

In response to a journalist's question about one of the main obstacles in
the Hamas-Fatah talks he said, "There are one thousand political prisoners
in the Palestinian Authority jails in the West Bank."

Hamas and Fatah last held talks in Egypt in July. Several rounds of
negotiations have failed to close the rift that opened up when Hamas, the
winner of the 2006 elections, seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian
Authority in June 2007.

Long way to go before prisoner deal

On Saturday night Mash'al, who leading a Hamas delegation, reportedly met
Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, a key link in indirect contacts
with Israel as well as in talks between Hamas and Fatah. Reports said the
two held a follow-up meeting on Sunday to discuss a potential prisoner swap
with Israel, involving captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

On the Shalit issue, Mash'al said that there was still "not a short path to
go" before the negotiations with Israel were completed. He also said he
welcomed new mediation by the government of Germany on the issue.