Palestinian Authority to Convene in Gaza Amid Reconciliation Push

Palestinian PM Urges Arab Countries to Increase Aid

The latest effort to unify the Palestinian Authority after many years of acrimony between Fatah and Hamas seems to be gaining a lot more momentum than previous efforts. The Palestinian Authority is already set to convene its first meeting in the Gaza Strip in years.

Palestinian PM Rami Hamdallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh

Under the deal, Hamas has disbanded the governing council in Gaza and will be turning the strip over to a unified reconciliation government, which will manage the situation pending new elections including all Palestinian factions.

Those new elections would be Palestine’s first serious elections since 2006, when Hamas defeated Fatah, and Fatah refused to recognize the result. This led to Hamas taking Gaza, and Fatah dominating the occupied West Bank. This also led to a decade of escalating Israeli blockades of Gaza.

Palestinian PM Rami Hamdallah said he and his ministers will be traveling to Gaza on Monday of next week, and will begin the process of setting up PA governance there. He said he expects Arab countries to increase their aid to Gaza, and to work with the PA to lift the Israeli siege.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.