Meeting between Fatah, Hamas leaders postponed

2011-06-20 01:51:34 GMT+7 (ICT)

RAMALLAH (BNO NEWS) -- A meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mshal has been delayed until further notice, a Palestinian official said on Sunday.

The two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, were to finalize the formation of the historic unity government next Tuesday in Cairo. But Azzam al-Ahmed, head of the Fatah delegation, told the Palestine News & Info Agency that the meeting has been postponed due to Abbas' engagements. He added that Fatah asked Hamas and the Egyptian leadership to postpone the meeting for few days through a phone call.  

The announcement came as Fatah and Hamas began a new round of negotiations as the two factions failed on reaching a consensus on the election of the next Prime Minister. Fatah chose current Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to head the new unity government, but Hamas objected the proposed candidate after blaming him for the Palestinian Authority's debts and the continuing attacks on Hamas supporters in the West Bank.

On May 4, Fatah, Hamas and all other Palestinian factions signed a historic unity deal in Cairo. As a result, the Hamas-led government in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank will be dissolved and replaced by a single cabinet of independent technocrats.

At that time, Hamas said that the unity government would be formed within ten days but so far factions have not agreed on a cabinet and elections were delayed. Israel urged the Palestinian Authority to choose either peace with Israel or peace with Hamas as there "is no possibility for peace with both."

Last year, Israel and the Palestinian Authority stalled the peace negotiations which were supported by the U.S. and the United Nations after the Jewish nation refused to extend a moratorium on settlement building in occupied Palestinian territory in September.

Israel has resumed settlement constructions even though they were labeled as a violation of international law by the international community.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-06-20

In blow to Palestinian unity, Abbas-Mashaal talks nixed

Fatah, Hamas leaders were scheduled to announce establishment of new Palestinian unity gov't, but Cairo summit postponed indefinitely.

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=225631

They can't even get their sh** (profanity edited) together even when by doing so they would put the ball squarely in Israel's court. Incidentally the differences between Fatah and Hamas boil down to fast jihad versus slow jihad.

Playing good cop, bad cop, but both really the same.

Just as I predicted.

Mind you, I predicted that the sun would set last night too.