Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH — Representatives of Palestinian factions will meet in the Egyptian capital next week in efforts to advance the Palestinian national reconciliation, a Palestinian official said here Friday. Azzam Al-Ahmed, a member of Fatah's Central Committee and head of its team to Cairo talks, said that representatives from his movement, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions will meet on Feb. 8. Al-Ahmed said that the representatives will discuss the holding of general elections, finalize details of a unity government and the reformation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas's political bureau, told Palestinian television Tuesday that his movement had no objection to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas serving as prime minister in the new government. “We want a government that will rebuild the Gaza Strip and implement all the issues agreed on between Fatah and Hamas,” Abu Marzouk said. Abbas and Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mish'al met last month in Cairo to settle obstacles that delay the implementation of the Doha's declaration and particularly the national unity government. The development comes two days after the Hams government officially notified Palestinian Central Elections Committee (CEC) that it can operate and start updating voter registration in the Gaza Strip. Taher Al-Nounou, the spokesman of Hamas government, said that the movement's Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh “instructed that full facilities be granted to the CEC to complete the registration.” The voter registration in Gaza has not been updated since Hamas took over the territory by force in 2007, a year after it won the parliamentary elections. Meanwhile, the CEC Executive Director Hisham Kohail said there are about 350,000 eligible unregistered voters in Gaza. Kohail added that enrolling them in the register would take two weeks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Jan. 10 harshly criticized Abbas for encouraging reconciliation efforts with Hamas. “That's not how someone striving for peace behaves,” Netanyahu charged. Israel and the West consider Hamas a terrorist movement. The Quartet, which comprises the US, the EU, the UN and Russia, has asked Hamas to recognize Israel, accept peace deals and abandon violence in exchange for an international recognition of the movement. Israel also fears that Hamas may seize control over the West Bank, which is controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
