Leaked: The Six Clauses Of The Fatah-Hamas Deal
SOURCE: THE JERUSALEM POST
BY: ADAM RASGON
he full text of the agreement Hamas and Fatah announced in Cairo on Thursday was leaked on social media over the weekend. The agreement sought to partially restore the Palestinian Authority’s presence in the Gaza Strip.
At a press conference on Thursday and in official statements, the two parties as well as Egypt, which helped broker the agreement, only revealed part of the deal, causing confusion for journalists and other observers.
Here is a synopsis of the six clauses of the leaked agreement, which was signed by Fatah Central Committee member Azzam al-Ahmad and Hamas Deputy Politburo chief Salah al-Arouri:
1) The Palestinian Authority government will be empowered to carry out fully its responsibilities in administrating the Gaza Strip as it does in the West Bank by December 1.
While both parties already agreed several weeks ago that the PA would take responsibility for Gaza, they had not previously set a definitive deadline.
2) A PA-formed committee will resolve the employees issue by February 1. While the committee works to resolve the employees issue and after the PA is enabled to carry out its administrative and financial powers in Gaza including tax collection, the PA will pay the Hamas-appointed employees their salaries.
3) Border crossings in Gaza with Israel and Egypt will be transferred to the PA by November 1.
Ahmad on Thursday told a press conference at the Egyptian Intelligence Directorate in Cairo that the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings between Gaza and Israel would be handed over the PA by November 1. However, He said the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt would likely be transferred to the PA later than November 1.
Watch the video here
4) PA security leaders will go to Gaza to discuss ways and mechanisms to rebuild the security services with relevant parties.
According to Ahmad, the two parties agreed that the US-trained PA Presidential Guard will control the Egyptian-Gazan border. However, it is unclear if they reached any other security arrangements.
A major point of disagreement on security between the two parties is the future of Hamas’s armed wing, the Izzadin Kassam Brigades. PA President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded that Izzadin Kassam hand over its weapons, while Hamas’s leadership has said this will not happen.
A meeting in Cairo will take place in the first week of December to evaluate the implementation of what was agreed between Hamas and Fatah.
6) All the Palestinian factions that signed the Cairo reconciliation agreement in 2011, will meet on November 14 in the Egyptian capital to discuss the 2011 agreement.
The 2011 Cairo agreement deals with holding general elections within one year, reforming the PLO, and other issues.
In addition to the six clauses, the agreement included a preamble.
It says, among other things, that the agreement aims to achieve Palestinian unity for the sake of “ending the occupation, establishing a sovereign Palestinian state on all of the lands occupied in 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of refugees.”
Hamas issued a policy document earlier this year in which it said establishing a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines is “a national consensus.” However, in the same document, Hamas said it refuses to recognize Israel and rejects any alternative to “liberating Palestine from the river to the sea.”
