Rival Palestinian factions have signed an agreement in Algiers aimed at resolving 15 years of discord by holding elections within a year after months of talks mediated by Algeria.
The deal aims to end a rift between President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement and the Islamist group Hamas that has split Palestinian governance in the Gaza Strip from the West Bank and hindered Palestinian ambitions of statehood.
However, there was scepticism back home that the pledge to hold presidential and legislative elections would deliver any concrete changes after previous unmet promises.
The delegations did not agree to form a unity government.
The division between Palestinian factions, triggered after Hamas won a legislative election in 2006, has prevented any further elections since then.
The Islamist group, which opposes peace with Israel, seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 while Abbas’ foreign-backed Palestinian Authority stayed dominant in the West Bank.
Speaking after the signing ceremony, senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad vowed the agreement “will be implemented and will not remain a dead letter,” describing the years of division as a “cancer”.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the agreement marked “a happy day for the Palestinians and a day of sorrow to the (Israeli) occupation”.
Read the article in The Canberra Times (AAP).