Egypt hails Hamas-Fatah political reconciliation

Cairo, Sep 18 : Egypt hailed the agreement between Palestinian Fatah and Hamas movements to end a decade-long political rift, media reports said.

Egypt welcomes the stances of the Fatah and Hamas movements regarding Egyptian efforts to unite the Palestinian people and end the current discord, Egypt's official MENA news agency said on Sunday.

Egypt would continue contacts with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and all Palestinian factions to serve the Palestinian interests and cause, Xinhua news agency said.

Repeated reconciliation attempts have failed since the Hamas militants drove forces loyal to Abbas out of the Gaza Strip in 2007, a year after defeating Fatah in parliamentary elections.

The takeover led to rival governments, with Hamas controlling Gaza and Abbas in charge of autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Earlier in the day, Islamic Hamas movement, which rules Gaza, agreed with President Abbas's Fatah party to reconcile, form a unity government and prepare for the general parliamentary and presidential elections.

The Hamas announcement came following eight days of a dialogue in Cairo between senior Egyptian security intelligence officials and a senior Hamas delegation, headed by the top leaders of the movement, including Ismail Haneya, Hamas politburo chief.

On Friday, Afata delegation joined the reconciliation dialogue that Egypt has been sponsoring.

It also said that Hamas movement is ready to response to the Egyptian invitation to resume the dialogue soon with Fatah Party on the mechanisms of the full implementation of Cairo Reconciliation Agreement that was reached between the two sides in May 2011.