March 24, 2008

Fatah Signed Yemen Sponsored Reconciliation by Mistake

Woopsie!

JPost: Top aides to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday distanced themselves from a Yemeni plan outlining a path to reconciliation with Hamas movement, and one said an Abbas envoy only signed the document because of a mixup. Under the Yemeni proposal, signed Sunday, Abbas's Fatah movement and Hamas would agree in principle to unite in a single Palestinian government...A senior Abbas confidant, chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei, said Monday that al-Ahmed signed because of a mixup. Al-Ahmed called Abbas' office repeatedly to get guidance, but Abbas was meeting at the time with US Vice President Dick Cheney, and al-Ahmed went ahead and signed, Qureia said.

"There was a misunderstanding," Qurei told reporters Monday. "President Abbas was busy hosting Cheney, and Azzam tried many times to contact him (Abbas), but couldn't reach him. The talks were at the end, and time was pressing."

Meanwhile the US isn't pleased with the idea:

CNN: Asked whether the U.S. supports the Yemeni mediation effort to bridge differences between Hamas and Fatah, a senior administration official said that the United States has made it clear that it will not support working with Hamas unless there is a fundamental change in the group's current role, which the U.S. describes as terrorist..."The Fatah leadership has to make a choice," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. "They can have a peace process and dialogue with Israel or a coalition with Hamas. But it's clear that you can't have them both."

By Jane at 02:26 PM | |