Fatah, Hamas and other Palestinian movements confirm participation in Moscow talks - ambassador

MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. Representatives of Palestine’s key nine movements have confirmed their participation in informal talks in Moscow on re-establishing national unity, Palestinian Ambassador to Russia Abdel Nafiz Nofal told TASS on Tuesday. "Among participants in the talks are Fatah, Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Palestinian Democratic Union, the Palestinian National Initiative," he said. Palestinian reconciliation talks are to be held in Moscow on January 15 through 17. According to the Palestinian diplomat, the meeting might help Russia come out with a new Middle East settlement initiative. He did not rule out that the Moscow talks "might yield a final declaration." Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister and special presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov, said earlier that the problem of intra-Palestinian reconciliation is to be "resolved as the priority task so that the Palestinians present a single and united delegation at the talks on the final status." "Russia fully supports efforts on soonest restoration of intra-Palestinian unity on the basis of PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) and Arab Peace Initiative," he said, adding that Moscow maintains "dialogue with representatives of the whole range of Palestinian forces, first of all Fatah and Hamas, in the interests of achieving appropriate agreements." In May 2011, a first meeting took place at a health resort near Moscow in an attempt to reconcile major Palestinian groups, including Fatah and Hamas. High-ranking officials of key Palestinian movements arrived in Russia after Fatah and Hamas had sealed a deal in Cairo to form a Palestinian government of "professionals." A split between Palestine’s two major forces, Fatah and Hamas, occurred after the parliamentary elections in Palestine in 2006 when Hamas won. In June 2007, its militants seized power in Gaza Strip. Since then, Palestine has been divided into two parts: Fatah controls West Bank and Hamas controls the Gaza Strip. In a bid to bridge the gap, the sides are looking at holding another election but so far no agreement on that has been reached. Read more