GAZA CITY, June 27: The governing Palestinian group Hamas executed an historic policy shift on Tuesday in agreeing to an initiative that implicitly recognises arch-foe Israel’s right to exist.
The deal, agreed after weeks of crisis talks, marks a landmark for Hamas, which formed a Palestinian government after winning a January election but which has long advocated the destruction of the Jewish state.
Israel — which is poised to launch an offensive on the Gaza Strip over the capture of one of its soldiers in an attack three days ago — dismissed the deal as a purely internal matter.
“With representatives of all Islamic and national forces, civil society and private sector representatives... we have reached an agreement with changes (on some points),” said Ibrahim Abu Najja, head of a cross-party Palestinian grouping.
The deal, reached between all factions but the Islamic Jihad, follows weeks intense on-off crisis talks between Hamas and the rival Fatah party of president Mahmud Abbas amid deadly feuding and fears of civil war.
“It is the beginning of a new era in common and united work on all political questions, the resistance and the internal situation,” trumpeted Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad.
Abbas had vowed to put the initiative to the first-ever Palestinian referendum on July 26 if there was no agreement before then, a threat that Hamas slammed as an attempt to overthrow its government.
Abu Najja said the agreement, announced after an emergency meeting between faction representatives in Gaza City, would be presented to Abbas and Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya for signing later on Tuesday.
The 18-point national reconciliation document, drawn up by Palestinian faction leaders jailed in the Jewish state, implicitly recognises Israel’s right to exist by calling for a Palestinian state on land conquered in 1967.
The blueprint also calls for an end to attacks in Israel and the creation of a national unity government.
“We believe this agreement is a great success and a big present for the Palestinian people,” he told AFP. “This is good news for a united Palestinian society,” said Ahmed al-Bahar, deputy speaker of the parliament dominated by Hamas, whose armed wing has been responsible for scores of attacks that have killed hundreds of Israelis.
