"This is what should have happened a long time ago," Shaath said.
The most senior of the newly-released detainees was identified as Osama
Al Fara, a former governor in Khan Yunis and member of the Fatah
Revolutionary Council. For its part, the PA released Mohammed Ghazal, a
senior Hamas commander in the West Bank.
Officials said the Fatah-Hamas prisoner exchange was mediated by several
Palestinian independents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They cited Yasser
Al Wadi and Khalil Al Assaf.
"A friendly and positive meeting was held between the representatives of
Fatah and Hamas in Nablus in which the parties unanimously agreed on the
need to achieve national reconciliation," Al Assaf said.
Neither Hamas nor the PA, however has halted arrests. On May 25, the PA
placed into custody scores of Hamas representatives, including the mayor of
the West Bank city of El Bireh, Jamal Tawil. Tawil and other Hamas
operatives have been calling for a boycott of PA municipal elections,
scheduled for July 17.
In the West Bank, PA and Hamas officials have been quietly meeting to
discuss reconciliation measures. In Nablus, the officials included Nablus
Gov. Jibril Bakri, former PA Deputy Prime Minister Nasser Al Shaer, a Hamas
member, as well as Sami Abu Eisha and Ali Sartawi.
Al Wadi said the next stage of the reconciliation would
focus on the Egyptian plan for the return of the PA to the Gaza Strip. Hamas
has rejected the Egyptian plan, which has resulted in an escalation of
tension between the Islamic regime and Cairo.
"The salient points under discussion are issues related to imposing
security and order in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as the start of
procedural steps stipulated in the Egyptian document," Al Wadi said.
Officials said Israel has bolstered Fatah by releasing Hamas prisoners.
In late May, Israel released Mohammed Abu Tir, arrested in 2006 on charges
of conducting hostile activities.
In an address to the Palestinian Information Center for Research and
Studies, Shaath said Fatah and Hamas have been moving closer in their
strategic positions. He said both movements accept a Palestinian state in
the areas that Israel captured in the 1967 war, the resettlement of
Palestinian refugees in Israel and what the Fatah official termed "peaceful
resistance."
"I explained this to the leaders of Hamas, as I said to [Hamas Prime
Minister] Ismail Haniyeh during my meeting with him during my visit to
Gaza — the conditions of Arab, regional and international do not allow us
to conduct armed struggle," Shaath said. "We must mobilize our forces to
promote peaceful resistance, isolate Israel and continue the pressure."
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