By IINA,
Dakar : Talks between Fatah and Hamas in the Senegalese capital Dakar this weekend restored “an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect” between the Palestinian factions, a statement signed by both sides said yesterday.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who holds the presidency of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) , offered his services in March as a mediator for the two movements, which clashed when Islamist Hamas fighters wrested power from Fatah in the Gaza strip a year ago. It is noteworthy that Wade said at the Dakar OIC summit in March that Israeli President Shimon Peres had asked him to intervene to achieve peace in the Middle East and that the Palestinians had also agreed to his mediation.
Representatives of the two Palestinian factions issued a statement following three days of negotiations mediated by Abdoulaye Wade. “The Palestinian representatives … thank the mediator for managing to restore an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect, which allowed them to discuss the fundamental interests of the Palestinian people,” said the communiqué signed by Hikmat Zeid for Fatah, Emad Khalid Alamy for Hamas and Senegal’s Foreign Minister Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, Reuters reported. The statement said Dakar would resume contact with both sides to organize future meetings with the aim of “reconciling the Palestinian family”.
Osama Hamdan, Hamas representative in Lebanon, described the Senegalese initiative as a practical test for seriousness of the intention for dialogue. In a statement, Hamdan said that it was left to the Senegalese president to decide to contact Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal and President Abbas “because we believe that there should be a meeting at the leadership level to initiate an open dialogue on means of arranging the Palestinian home” Wade started mediation talks with delegates from Hamas and Fatah on Friday.
Earlier in March, Yemen tried to broker a reconciliation deal between the rival Palestinian movements in March but efforts broke down after disagreement over whether Hamas should cede control of the coastal territory. Arab ministers meeting at the Arab League have backed the Yemeni proposal, which calls on Hamas to hand over control of Gaza. Hamas says it is ready to resume dialogue but without preconditions.
Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, called Syrian President Bashar ِAl Assad and Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Saturday, seeking Arab support for the renewed dialogue, Haniyeh’s office said. Haniyeh said last Thursday he welcomed what he called a “new spirit” of dialogue in a keynote speech by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, of Fatah. However, aides to Abbas rejected suggestions he had taken a warmer tone to his Hamas Islamist opponents, and insisted his call for “a national and comprehensive dialogue” with Hamas concerned only implementation of the Yemeni initiative.