The source said both Fatah and Hamas refused to move from their
positions regarding a proposed power-sharing arrangement in the Gaza Strip.
Fatah insisted that the Palestinian Authority resume full governance of the
strip and control the borders with Egypt and Israel.
The reconciliation panel was disbanded in late June following a decision
by Hamas not to invite members to the Gaza Strip. Until then, Hamas
political bureau chief Khaled Masha'al had offered to meet the panel in
Damascus.
A member of the committee, Hani Al Masri, said the disbanding of the
panel would not halt reconciliation efforts between Fatah and Hamas. Al
Masri, a senior PA Information Ministry official, said Fatah refused to
revise an Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation plan, rejected by Hamas in 2009.
Palestinian sources said the two key disagreements between Fatah and
Hamas concerned Gaza security. They said Hamas appeared willing to consider
a proposal that the PA send police units to the Gaza Strip on condition that
they would not hamper military and other operations of the Islamic movement.
Hamas also insisted on its right to import goods, including weapons, into
the Gaza Strip.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas supported reconciliation efforts as well
as options to revise the Egyptian plan, the sources said. But they added
that Abbas retreated after he encountered opposition from Egypt and the United States.
Since the disbanding of the reconciliation committee, the PA has
resumed its crackdown on Hamas. The sources said PA security forces were
arresting or interrogating dozens of Hamas suspects per day in the West
Bank. Hamas said more than 500 members remain in PA detention.
For their part, Hamas officials said the Fatah delegation refused to
submit revisions of the Egyptian reconciliation plan, which called for the
return of PA rule of the Gaza Strip as well as national elections. They said
Fatah leaders who arrived in the Gaza Strip over the last two months had
insisted that they could not make any decision.
"There are some parties that are still too immature to end Palestinian
division," Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on June 27.
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