Gaza, October 08: Hamas has asked Egypt to delay the signing of a Palestinian reconciliation deal Cairo had announced for later this month, a source within the democratically eleced group in Gaza said on Wednesday.
Hamas “asked Egypt to postpone the session for the signature of the agreement” with the rival Fatah faction headed by president Mahmud Abbas, the source said.
Egypt had announced on Monday that the bitter rivals would come to Cairo to sign a long-delayed reconciliation deal on October 25-26.
The postponement was requested because of the controversial decision by the Palestinian delegation at the UN Human Rights Council to drop its backing for an immediate vote on a damning report on the Gaza war, the Hamas source said.
For his part, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum would only say that “Hamas, Palestinian factions and Egyptian officials are continuing consultations over what consequences the withdrawal of support for the Goldstone report by the Palestinian Authority would have on the Palestinian reconciliation dialogue.”
Another Hamas spokesman, Taher al-Nunu, said the decision on the Goldstone report “has had a negative impact on the dialogue.”
The UN report, authored by respected South African judge Richard Goldstone, accused Israel of committing war crimes during the 22-day war that killed 1,400 Palestinians, mainly civilians.
On Friday, the Geneva-based council decided to defer a vote on the report until March after the Palestinian delegation agreed to the move, under Israeli and US pressure.
Hamas has been at the forefront of criticism levelled at Abbas over the decision, saying the move betrayed the Palestinian victims of the Israeli offensive.
A group of university professors in Gaza underlined their discontent over the decision during a press conference on Wednesday by throwing shoes at an Abbas portrait that bore the words: “To the dustbin of history, you traitor.”
The beleaguered president, who has also faced a storm of criticism across the world, has since sought to backtrack, saying he welcomed a move by Libya to hold an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the report.
Senior Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo admitted that “the Palestinian leadership has made a mistake.”
“We recognise it was a mistake,” he told local television in Ramallah. “It can be fixed and we are working on it.”
—Agencies