Arms down. Palestinian gunmen (Illustration)
Photo: AP
Hamas accepts Yemen reconciliation initiative
Hamas, Fatah agree to initiative calling for new Palestinian elections; 'dispute isn't between Fatah and Hamas, it's between action factions and Hamas,' says Abbas aide
Fatah officials said Tuesday they were ready to begin a Palestinian national dialogue if the rival Hamas faction accepts the terms of a Yemeni initiative to end hostilities between them. "The dispute is not between Fatah and Hamas... It is between all the national action factions and Hamas.
"Hamas has been singled out from the start when it used armed force," senior Abbas aide Azzam al-Ahmed told reporters in Yemen.
Brothers in Arms
Aaron Klein, WND
Top minister in Abbas' government says Fatah would join ranks with Islamist group if it agrees to share power in Gaza Strip or if Israel launches major attack there. 'We must stand together to fight the occupation,' he says
The Yemeni initiative calls for the situation in Gaza to return to the way it was before Hamas seized control of the territory last June and for early Palestinian elections to be held, conditions endorsed by Abbas and so far rejected by Hamas.
It also calls for a resumption of dialogue in line with a reconciliation agreement the factions reached in Mecca in 2007, for the creation of a unity government and for security forces to be rebuilt on a national rather than a factional basis.
"The visit is to meet (Yemeni) President Ali Abdullah Saleh ... and inform him of the movement's acceptance of the Yemeni initiative," Hamas deputy politburo chief Moussa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera television in Sanaa where Fatah officials were due to meet Saleh.
