Meetings between Palestinian Hamas and Jihad movements and the Egyptian General Intelligence officials kicked off in Cairo on Monday, amid attempts to keep the talks as calm and confidential as possible.
On the agenda are pending issues, such as the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation file and the need to find an appropriate formula to avoid further escalation with the Israeli occupation forces.
The Hamas delegation, led by the movement’s politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Cairo on Sunday within the framework of Egypt’s mediation efforts in the reconciliation file.
Sources close to the meetings noted that the issue of “understandings with Israel, and lifting the siege on Gaza, received a considerable share of the discussions.”
Prior to the visit, Hamas announced that its officials would review with the Egyptian side “the resumption of efforts to arrange the internal Palestinian house.”
Representatives of Islamic Jihad also participated in Monday’s meetings.
The Palestinian public opinion is awaiting the outcome of an expected foreign tour by Hamas, which will include a number of countries beginning with Russia.
The movement, along with other Palestinian factions, received an invitation from Moscow to discuss the issue of reconciliation.
Egypt is sponsoring the Palestinian reconciliation file to end the division between Fatah and Hamas since the latter’s takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
On October 12, 2017, Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement in Cairo to allow the government to administer Gaza and the West Bank, but its implementation stalled amid disagreements between the two movements over some files.
