Agreement Between Fatah and Hamas to End Palestinian Division
Cairo, 12 October 2017
Based on the importance of consolidating the principle of national partnership and giving precedence to the public interest to achieve the hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people to end the division, strengthen the internal front and national unity, in order to achieve the national project, end the occupation, establish a sovereign Palestinian state over all the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital and the return of the refugees, abide fully by the Basic Law for preserving a single democratic and pluralistic political system, a peaceful alternation of power through elections, protect the independent national Palestinian decision-making and respect for the sovereignty of states, and welcome all assistance to the Palestinian people for reconstruction and development through the Palestinian government.
Fatah and Hamas held a series of meetings on 10-11 October 2017, under Egyptian auspices in Cairo, to deal with the issues related to national reconciliation.
The two movements agreed on the following:
(1) To complete the measures empowering the national conciliation government to fully exercise its functions and carry out its responsibilities in Gaza as it does in the West Bank according to law and order no later than 1 December 2017.
(2) For the legal/ administrative committee formed by the national conciliation government to quickly complete its task of finding a solution to the issue of Gaza’s civil servants, no later than 1 February 2018, with the participation of experts and specialists knowledgeable of the Gaza Strip. The government will ensure that the civil servants will continue to get their salaries during the work of the committee as of November 2017, once the government is empowered to carry out its administrative and financial powers, including tax collection.
(3) To complete the measures allowing the national conciliation government to take over all crossings of the Gaza Strip, including empowering the Palestinian Authority staff to manage these crossings in full no later than 1 November 2017.
(4) To order commanders of the official security services operating in the State of Palestine to go to the Gaza Strip to discuss ways and mechanisms for the reconstruction of the security services with experts in the field.
(5) To hold a meeting in Cairo during the first week of December 2017 to assess what progress has been achieved on the issues where agreement has been reached.
(6) To hold a meeting on 14 November 2017, with the participation of all Palestinian factions that signed the agreement on โPalestinian National Conciliationโ on 4 May 2011, in order to deal with all the reconciliation items that were referred to in that agreement.
Signed:
For Fatah: Azzam al-Ahmad
For Hamas: Salah al-Arouri
Note: The meeting was held on 21 November 2017, as announced by the Egyptian side on 12 October.
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