Representatives of Fatah in Ramallah have signed a preliminary truce deal with Hamas, Palestinian sources said Wednesday, despite recent tension over Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' conduct following the Goldstone report.
The signing of the agreement had been scheduled for later this month in Cairo, due to Hamas' objections, and it remains unclear at what time the latter group will follow in Fatah's footsteps.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said his organization would not be pressured into signing a truce deal Fatah had already signed. "Things happened that our public opinion cannot accept, and the Goldstone affair is still shaking up the atmosphere," he said.
After the deal was signed Hamas prime minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh spoke before a group of those injured in Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. He attacked the Palestinian Authority for its treatment of the Goldstone Report.
"The Palestinians people will not forgive the PA for its crime against the martyrs and the innocent Palestinians," Haniyeh said.
Sources in Egypt told Ynet that messages from Hamas indicated they intended to sign the accord as well, despite recent accusations by Fatah against the group.
Fatah had said that Hamas was attempting to gain more from the deal in the aftermath of the report saying Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza, which the Palestinian Authority did not at first embrace.
Conflict has surrounded the truce in recent weeks over Abbas' refusal to push for a UN debate on the Goldstone report, and Hamas asked Cairo to postpone a truce conference scheduled there for October 26. Abbas has since then changed his position on the matter and demanded that "war criminals" be punished.
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