Hamas has ‘notes’ on Egypt paper for reconciliation

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Palestinian resistance group Hamas has some notes on a proposed Egyptian paper for inter-Palestinian reconciliation, a senior group leader said Wednesday.

“Egypt has presented a paper for reconciliation and we accepted it, but we were surprised by [Cairo] presenting a new paper,” Khalil al-Hayya told the Doha-based Al Jazeera Mubashir television.

“We have this paper and [Palestinian] factions have reservations about it,” he said.

The Hamas leader, however, did not give details about the content of the proposed Egyptian paper.

Al-Hayya said Hamas insisted on the removal of sanctions imposed by Ramallah-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the Gaza Strip “before implementing the reconciliation”.

Last year, Abbas took a number of punitive measures as a way of piling pressures on Hamas to relinquish its control of Gaza, including cutting the salaries of Gaza-based employees by 30 percent, reducing the provision of electricity to the territory, and forced retirement of around 6,000 employees.

“We dealt seriously with Arab and UN efforts that aim to end the humanitarian suffering in Gaza and put an end to the blockade,” Al-Hayya said.

On Wednesday, a Hamas delegation left Gaza for Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said on Tuesday the delegation will “carry the movement’s vision for reconciliation, ending the Gaza blockade, de-escalation and confronting Israel aggression”.

Hamas has been holding meetings in the blockaded Gaza Strip as well as talks with Egypt and the UN over a proposal for national reconciliation and a cease-fire with Israel.