Fatah official: No date for reconciliation meeting

A senior Fatah official said Friday that his party has not met with rivals Hamas for more than two weeks, and no date has been set for further meetings. Sakhr Bseiso told Ma’an the calls for Islamic rule by Hamas leaders on June 13 had "negatively affected Fatah, and the whole Palestinian people." Gaza Interior Minister Fathi Hammad told a peace graduation ceremony in June: "There will be no peace with secularism," prompting Hamas leader-in-exile Mousa Abu Marzouq to call for unity between all Palestinians, whether Islamic or secularists. Hamas and Fatah leaders were set to meet last Wednesday to select cabinet ministers for a joint government to end the divided administrations run by the rival parties in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Last Sunday, President Mahmoud Abbas assured that the new Palestinian government of independent figures will be announced in the "next few days." But Bseiso, a Fatah delegate to reconciliation talks with Hamas, said on Friday "there is nothing new on the reconciliation efforts," after the scheduled meeting failed to take place this week. The parties last met on June 6, and no further meetings are planned, he said. Rivalry between Hamas and secular party Fatah exploded into near civil war in 2007, the year after Hamas won national elections. A May 2011 deal to reconcile the parties has repeatedly faltered.