Ramallah To Host Palestinian Reconciliation Forum - Foreign Minister

Ramallah to Host Palestinian Reconciliation Forum - Foreign Minister

The Palestinian Authority will hold a national reconciliation conference in Ramallah in the West Bank in an attempt to bridge divisions between the rival Fatah and Hamas factions, Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki told Sputnik

RAMALLAH (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th February, 2023) The Palestinian Authority will hold a national reconciliation conference in Ramallah in the West Bank in an attempt to bridge divisions between the rival Fatah and Hamas factions, Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki told Sputnik.

"President Mahmoud Abbas and the leadership has decided to start the preparation for a national reconciliation meeting, inviting all factions to such a meeting here in Ramallah," al-Maliki said in an interview, adding it could happen "in the near future."

The minister said that Palestinian reunification was a top priority for the Palestinian Authority in light of the growing tensions with Israel, which has a new, ultranationalist government in charge. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has recently escalated after a gunman opened fire near a synagogue in East Jerusalem and Israel launched a deadly raid in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin.

"I do believe that the events that took place in Jenin and the Israeli escalation all around the West Bank is evidence that we do need to put an end to the division and for Fatah and Hamas to sit together and to join hands to be able to confront the Israeli crimes," al-Maliki said.

The foreign minister said he was confident that Hamas would act responsibly and answer the call. The militant group has been running the Gaza Strip, a blockaded Palestinian exclave, separately from the Palestinian Authority since 2006 when Hamas fell out with Abbas's Fatah party.