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Fatah, Hamas in Reconciliation Talks | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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DAMASCUS (AFP) – Leaders of the two rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas held reconciliation talks in the Syrian capital and said they wanted the discussions to continue.

Exiled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal and Fatah representative Azzam al-Ahmad met in Meshaal’s Damascus office “in a fraternal and friendly climate with the aim of ending their divisions,” a joint communique said after the meeting.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and Fatah which controls the West Bank “reviewed the points of disagreement” and agreed on “a process and measures to advance toward reconciliation,” the statement said.

The two movements decided to “hold a meeting shortly” to reach a formula for a definitive understanding and then to “go to Cairo to sign a reconciliation agreement.”

Egypt has for several months been brokering an accord between Fatah, the movement of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas, which have been deadly enemies since the Islamist movement took over the Gaza Strip in 2007.