Hamas end internal dispute over Doha deal
Published yesterday (updated) 22/02/2012 22:39
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=462455

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Hamas officials met on Wednesday in Cairo and ended an
internal dispute about the recent agreement signed in Doha, an official
said.

Izzat al-Rishq said that the movement has agreed on the principles of the
agreement signed between Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal and President Abbas in
Qatar.

Mashaal met with Abbas and the Egyptian intelligence chief on Wednesday to
discuss ways to implement the Doha agreement.

Senior Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayyah had said on Monday that the Islamist
movement is committed to the Doha agreement, but disputed President Abbas'
dual role of prime minister.

The Islamist movement had said that the appointment of Abbas as both
president and prime minister was illegal under Palestinian law.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas figure in Gaza seen as a hardliner by
Fatah, had previously described Mashaal's agreement with Abbas as a
"mistake".

Zahar clashed with Mashaal late last year when the exiled leader advocated
giving Abbas more time to pursue his peacemaking with Israel.

President Mahmoud Abbas is set to chair a meeting Thursday in Cairo that
will encompass chiefs of Palestinian factions, PLO leaders and the speaker
of the Palestinian National Council.

Participants will address the formation of a technocrat government to be
headed by Abbas.

The Doha deal was aimed at reuniting the deeply split Palestinian national
movement after past accords that followed Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip
in 2007 failed to get off the ground over disagreements over who would head
a new government.

The accord is supposed to open the way for presidential and parliamentary
election possibly later this year, and to rebuild the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip
following a 2008-2009 Israeli offensive.

Reuters contributed to this report