Fatah's President Abbas
Photo: AP
Hamas-affiliated PM
Photo: AP
Haniyeh, Abbas agree to speed up dialogue
Palestinian president, PM meet for first time in 2 months, in attempts to defuse Fatah-Hamas conflict. PM Haniyeh: 'We must unite. The battle against the occupation is still long and brutal.' Thursday, 6 killed in internal clashes
Pursuant to the severe events taking place over the past few days in the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met late Thursday night, for the first time in two months.
Both parties agreed that armed displays in the streets of Gaza should be forbidden, and that an independent examination committee should be established in order to investigate the recent events.
Ongoing clashes
Ali Waked
Senior security officer, two of his subordinates and a bystander killed after shell fired at officer's house in northern Strip. Earlier Thursday two other people killed. Prime Minister Haniyeh arrives in Gaza, calls on factions to resolve conflict through dialogue
Haniyeh and Abbas also agreed on the need to speed up the talks on the establishment of a Palestinian unity government.
At the end of the meeting, Haniyeh expressed his regret for all that has occurred in the past few days and said that the media incitement should also be stopped.
According to Haniyeh, during the meeting with Abbas it was agreed that the political conflict should not be taken out to the streets but should be approached through dialogue.
"There are serious problems, such as Jerusalem, the refugees and the separation fence," said Haniyeh. "We must put aside our disagreements and turn to dialogue to solve them, since we have no choice but to unite. The battle against the occupation is still long and brutal."
At the end of another hard day in the Strip, six people had been killed. In the evening, a senior officer in Fatah's Preventive Security Service, Muhammad Ghayeb was killed in a Fatah-Hamas gun battle after an RPG shell was fired at his house.
Along with Ghayeb, two of his subordinates were we also killed. A Palestinian passer-by was also killed in the shooting and Ghayeb's wife was critically injured in the incident, along with several others.
Initially Fatah reported that Ghayeb's two daughters were also killed in the blood bath, but Hamas denied the claim and after an investigation it became clear that the girls indeed had not been killed.
