Palestine's Hamas group has agreed to talks with rival Fatah movement, to dissolve the Gaza administrative committee and hold general elections, the group said in a statement on Sunday.

CAIRO: Palestine's Hamas group has agreed to talks with rival Fatah movement, to dissolve the Gaza administrative committee and hold general elections as a way to implement a deal to end their long-running feud, the group said in a statement on Sunday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Western-backed Palestine Authority, controlled by Fatah, fought a war with Hamas over Gaza in 2007, which led to Hamas taking over.

Attempts to reconcile the two and form a power-sharing unity government in Gaza and the West Bank have failed.

Hamas said in its statement that it agreed to dissolve administration running Gaza, allow the reconciliation government to carry out its duties in the territory, to hold elections and enter talks with Fatah.

Egypt has been brokering talks with Abbas's Fatah group to implement a deal signed in 2011 in Cairo with Islamist Hamas to end their dispute and form an interim government before elections.

With the prospect of a Middle East peace initiative by a new U.S. Trump administration more sympathetic to Israel, Abbas has put pressure on Hamas, including not paying Israel for electricity for Gaza territory and cutting salaries for civil servants there. </s> GAZA CITY: Egypt on Thursday opened its largely sealed border with the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip for three days, on the eve of more planned protests against Israel, Palestinian authorities said.

 In just the fourth such opening this year, the Rafah crossing to Egypt’s Sinai region will be open until Saturday for humanitarian cases, the interior ministry in Gaza said. An AFP photographer saw a first busload of 70 people, including women and children, crossing on Thursday morning.

 The opening comes ahead of a third consecutive Friday of planned mass protests along the Gaza-Israel border.

 Israeli media reports have said Egypt, one of only two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with the Jewish state, had been negotiating with Gaza’s rulers Hamas to seek to calm the crisis. Thirty-two Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded by Israeli forces since March 30 as thousands have approached the border fence and clashes have erupted.

 Israel says its forces have opened fire to stop attempts to damage the fence, infiltrations, bids to carry out attacks and at those seeking to harm soldiers.

 Palestinians say protesters are being shot while posing no threat to soldiers.

 The Rafah crossing is the only exit for Gaza residents except into Israel, but Egypt has largely sealed it in recent years, citing security threats.

 Egyptian authorities have had a strained relationship with Hamas, which began as an offshoot of Egypt’s banned Brotherhood.

 For more than a decade, Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on Gaza that critics say amounts to collective punishment of the coastal territory’s two million Palestinians.

 Israel says the blockade is necessary to isolate Hamas, with which it has fought three wars since 2008.

 In October, Egypt brokered a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah, the party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, that was supposed to see Hamas give up power in Gaza.

 But the deal has collapsed, with the two Palestinian groups trading blame. — AFP </s> A young Palestinian takes part in a Hamas rally to show solidarity with Al-Aqsa mosque, in Gaza City July 27, 2017. — Reuters pic CAIRO, Sept 17 — Palestine’s Hamas group has agreed to talks with rival Fatah movement, to dissolve the Gaza administrative committee and hold general elections as a way to implement a deal to end their long-running feud, the group said in a statement today.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Western-backed Palestine Authority, controlled by Fatah, fought a war with Hamas over Gaza in 2007, which led to Hamas taking over.

Attempts to reconcile the two and form a power-sharing unity government in Gaza and the West Bank have failed.

Hamas said in its statement that it agreed to dissolve administration running Gaza, allow the reconciliation government to carry out its duties in the territory, to hold elections and enter talks with Fatah.

Egypt has been brokering talks with Abbas’s Fatah group to implement a deal signed in 2011 in Cairo with Islamist Hamas to end their dispute and form an interim government before elections.

With the prospect of a Middle East peace initiative by a new US Trump administration more sympathetic to Israel, Abbas has put pressure on Hamas, including not paying Israel for electricity for Gaza territory and cutting salaries for civil servants there. — Reuters </s> CAIRO, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Palestine's Hamas group has agreed to talks with rival Fatah movement, to dissolve the Gaza administrative committee and hold general elections as a way to implement a deal to end their long-running feud, the group said in a statement on Sunday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Western-backed Palestine Authority, controlled by Fatah, fought a war with Hamas over Gaza in 2007, which led to Hamas taking over.

Attempts to reconcile the two and form a power-sharing unity government in Gaza and the West Bank have failed.

Hamas said in its statement that it agreed to dissolve administration running Gaza, allow the reconcillation government to carry out its duties in the territory, to hold elections and enter talks with Fatah.

Egypt has been brokering talks with Abbas's Fatah group to implement a deal signed in 2011 in Cairo with Islamist Hamas to end their dispute and form an interim government before elections.

With the prospect of a Middle East peace initiative by a new U.S. Trump administration more sympathetic to Israel, Abbas has put pressure on Hamas, including not paying Israel for electricity for Gaza territory and cutting salaries for civil servants there. (Reporting by Mohamed El Sherif; writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) </s> CAIRO/RAMALLAH (Reuters) - Hamas has agreed to dissolve the administration that runs Gaza, it said on Sunday, a major step towards handing control of the enclave to a Palestinian unity government after a decade of bitter rivalry with President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Islamist group, which has ruled Gaza since a brief Palestinian civil war in 2007, said it had taken “a courageous, serious and patriotic decision to dissolve the administrative committee” that runs the territory of 2 million people, and hand power to some form of unity government.

Reunification a decade after Hamas and Abbas’s secular Fatah movement battled for control of Gaza may hinge on whether complex issues related to power-sharing - which stymied reconciliation bids in the past - can be resolved.

Abbas welcomed Hamas’ move - a result of talks mediated by Egypt - and said he would convene the Palestinian leadership for discussions upon his return from New York where he was attending the U.N. General Assembly.

The development would “enable the formation of a national reconciliation government to work in the Gaza Strip and hold ... elections,” he said in a statement on official news agency WAFA.

Earlier, a Palestinian government spokesman said Cairo’s mediation had presented a “historic opportunity” that could help Palestinians toward full statehood.

But Fatah said it still needed clarification from Hamas on the handing over of government ministries in Gaza and control of the enclave’s border crossings with Israel and Egypt.

FILE PHOTO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stands during a reception ceremony for Jordan's King Abdullah II in the West Bank city of Ramallah, August 7, 2017. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman/File Photo

Hamas and Fatah agreed in 2014 to form a national reconciliation administration but could not agree on the details. A unity government formed after Hamas won the last Palestinian general election, in 2006, was short-lived.

Aiming to pressure Hamas to relinquish control of Gaza, Abbas cut payments to Israel for the electricity it supplies to the enclave, leading to power provided for less than four hours on some days, and never more than six hours a day.

Azzam Al-Ahmad, who headed Fatah’s delegation to the talks in Cairo, told WAFA: “This step will enhance the unity of the Palestinians and end ugly division.”

The two parties did not meet at the talks which took the form of shuttle-diplomacy with Egyptian officials mediating. Ahmad said the two sides planned to meet face-to-face but gave no date. Other Palestinian factions would join the talks later to discuss practical steps to implement the agreement, he added.

Mending fences with Western-backed Abbas would be another step in Hamas’ diplomatic push to improve relations with its neighbor Egypt, which has kept its frontier with Gaza largely closed and accused the group in the past of aiding Islamist militants in Egypt’s Sinai desert, something Hamas denies.

The United Nations’ envoy welcomed Sunday’s news.

“All parties must seize this opportunity to restore unity and open a new page for the Palestinian people,” U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov said in a statement, adding that the U.N. was ready to assist the talks in order to alleviate hardship in Gaza.

FILE PHOTO: A member of the Palestinian security forces, loyal to Hamas, stands guard as men set up a barbed wire on the border with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/File Photo

Mladenov thanked Egypt for its “tireless efforts in creating this positive momentum.”

Some opinion polls have showed that if parliamentary elections were held now, Hamas would win both in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the seat of Abbas’s Palestinian Authority.

Abbas, 82, is 12 years into what was meant to be a four-year term as president and opinion polls show him to be unpopular. He has no clear successor and no new presidential election appears imminent. </s> Hamas said on Sunday it had agreed to steps toward resolving a decade-long split with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah, announcing it would dissolve a body seen as a rival government and was ready to hold elections.

The statement comes after Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian officials last week, and with the Gaza Strip run by the Palestinian Islamist movement facing a mounting humanitarian crisis.

Hamas said it had agreed to key demands made by Fatah: dissolving the so-called "administrative committee" created in March, while saying it was ready for elections and negotiations toward a unity government.

It called on the Palestinian Authority government based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank "to come to Gaza to exercise its functions and carry out its duties immediately". Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh agreed to take such steps in talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo last week, a Hamas official has told AFP.

It was unclear, however, whether the steps would result in further concrete action toward ending the deep division with Fatah. Hamas for now continues to run a de facto separate administration in the Gaza Strip and is in charge of the security forces there.

Previous attempts to resolve the split have repeatedly failed. Abbas’s Fatah welcomed the announcement, saying it followed "extensive meetings" between its own representatives and Egyptian intelligence officials.

Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said a bilateral meeting with Hamas would be organised to begin working out a way forward. "There will be tangible practical steps in the next few days, starting with the Palestinian national unity government resuming its work according to law in Gaza as it does in the West Bank, in order to continue its efforts to relieve the suffering of our people in the strip and work towards lifting the unjust blockade," Ahmad told official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for around a decade, while its border with Egypt has also remained largely closed in recent years. Abbas is currently in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting, where he is set to speak on Wednesday. — </s> RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says that unless he gets full control over the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, including the group’s weapons, he will “not be responsible for what goes on” there.

Abbas’ comments late Sunday dealt another blow to months of U.S.-backed Egyptian efforts to negotiate a deal that would sideline the Islamic militant Hamas and enable Abbas’ self-rule government to return to Gaza.

Hamas seized Gaza from forces loyal to Abbas in 2007.

Recent talks between Abbas and his rivals failed, mainly because Hamas refuses to disarm. This comes as tensions are rising on the Gaza-Israel border, with Hamas leading mass protests to try to break an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade.

Abbas told leaders of his Fatah movement he has informed Egypt of his demands and is waiting to hear back. </s> Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says that unless he gets full control over the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, including the group’s weapons, he will “not be responsible for what goes on” there.

Abbas’ comments late Sunday dealt another blow to months of U.S.-backed Egyptian efforts to negotiate a deal that would sideline the Islamic militant Hamas and enable Abbas’ self-rule government to return to Gaza.

Hamas seized Gaza from forces loyal to Abbas in 2007.

Recent talks between Abbas and his rivals failed, mainly because Hamas refuses to disarm. This comes as tensions are rising on the Gaza-Israel border, with Hamas leading mass protests to try to break an Israeli-Egyptian border blockade.

Abbas told leaders of his Fatah movement he has informed Egypt of his demands and is waiting to hear back. </s> A truck carrying goods to Palestinians arrives at Kerem Shalom crossing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

A truck carrying goods to Palestinians arrives at Kerem Shalom crossing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Photo: SAID KHATIB/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

TEL AVIV— Israel reopened Gaza’s only commercial crossing on Wednesday, removing severe restrictions put in place last month as talks progress over a long-term cease-fire deal between the two sides.

The opening of the Kerem Shalom crossing is expected to further ease tensions as a fragile truce has largely held since intense clashes last week.

“I decided to reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing ... as a clear message to the residents of the Gaza Strip: peace and quiet are worth it and violence is not,” Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s defense minister, said in a video posted on Facebook .

“The residents of Gaza have much to gain when the citizens of Israel enjoy peace and security, and much to lose when quiet is disturbed,” he added.

Israel closed the crossing on July 9 to pressure Gaza ruler Hamas to stop launching flaming balloons and kites into Israeli territory, allowing only food and sometimes fuel through as Palestinians continue to protest at the fence dividing the strip from Israel.

Hamas and Israel have also clashed, most recently on Thursday when the extremist group launched more than 200 rockets and mortars into Israel and Israel responded with waves of airstrikes aimed at what it said were Hamas military targets. Both sides have reached a series of shaky temporary cease-fires since May.

Egypt and the United Nations are mediating for a longer-term peace agreement between Israel and Hamas, but talks have been slowed by the outbreaks of violence.

Israel’s security cabinet is set to meet Wednesday to discuss a possible longer-term cease-fire arrangement. Officials from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian groups returned to Egypt on Wednesday for talks on reconciling warring Palestinian factions and reaching a long-term truce with Israel.

The Palestinian Central Council, a legislative-type body of groups in the Palestinian Liberation Organization, is also set to meet in Ramallah on Wednesday where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will likely talk about the ongoing discussions.

Israel’s prime minister is facing pressure from the right over accepting a long-term agreement because critics say it could allow Hamas time to build up its rockets supply.

Naftali Bennett, a member of the security cabinet and the education minister, said his Jewish Home Party would oppose an agreement based on what he called temporary calm.

“After 130 days under attack and rocket fire, we must not reward terrorists without the return of our captives and our fallen. The terrorists will learn that terror pays, and Israel’s power of deterrent will be harmed,” he said in a statement.

Any long-term settlement must include arrangements for the return of Israeli citizens held in Gaza as well as the bodies of Israeli soldiers Gaza is holding, Mr. Lieberman said.

Israel and Egypt have imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip since Hamas took control more than a decade ago. The restrictions have severely harmed Gaza’s economy, plunging the strip into humanitarian crisis. Residents face critical shortages of food, electricity and medicine.

Israel defends the blockade and other restrictions as necessary for protecting its security, as Israel considers Hamas a terror organization.

Also Wednesday, Israel expanded Gaza’s allowed fishing area to nine nautical miles after it had previously curtailed it to three nautical miles. Israel controls how far out Gaza’s fisherman can fish, and sometimes decreases the radius as punishment or as a security measure.

Palestinians have been demonstrating at the border fence separating Gaza and Israel since March. The protesters are calling for the right to return to homes in what is now Israel, which Israel opposes because it would threaten the country’s Jewish majority.

The protests have often turned violent, with some people throwing Molotov cocktails, launching flaming kites and burning tires. Israel has responded to the protests with live fire, killing more than 150 people. Israel says the response is necessary to protect its border.
Egypt invites rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas to meet in Cairo in a bid to halt violent protests at the Israeli-Gazan border.