Forum Views ()
Forum Replies ()
Read more with google mobile :
Egypt says will not alter Palestinian unity pact
|
Edition:
U.S.
Article
Comments (0)
Save
Email
Print
Reprints
Most Popular
Most Shared
Peg is dead as China vows yuan flexibility
11:25am EDT
Putin boasts new jet fighter better than U.S. plane
17 Jun 2010
Miley Cyrus "no underwear" photo is fake, blogger says
15 Jun 2010
WRAPUP 1-Partner puts blame on BP as spill costs grow
1:03am EDT
U.S. urges Kyrgyzstan to end humanitarian crisis
| Video
9:19am EDT
Partner puts blame on BP as spill costs grow
| Video
8:36am EDT
"I killed, cut off heads" says repentant Mexico hitman
18 Jun 2010
German student attacks Hell's Angels with puppy
15 Jun 2010
UPDATE 4-Toyota resumes China plant output as strike ends
10:28am EDT
BP deploys Costner's oil machine in Gulf cleanup
18 Jun 2010
UPDATE 2-Britain approves GW Pharma's cannabis drug Sativex
18 Jun 2010
Untreated prostate cancer no death sentence
18 Jun 2010
Peg is dead as China vows yuan flexibility
11:25am EDT
German student attacks Hell's Angels with puppy
15 Jun 2010
Partner puts blame on BP as spill costs grow
| Video
8:36am EDT
Euro gets thumbs-up
18 Jun 2010
WRAPUP 1-Partner puts blame on BP as spill costs grow
1:03am EDT
Facebook '09 revenue neared $800 million
18 Jun 2010
Twenty-two dead as Turkish troops clash with PKK
8:11am EDT
U.S. reverses stance on treaty to regulate arms trade
14 Oct 2009
Egypt says will not alter Palestinian unity pact
Marwa Awad
CAIRO
Sat Jun 19, 2010 10:27am EDT
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will not amend a pact written to reconcile rival Palestinian movements and the Islamist Hamas should join Fatah in signing it, Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Saturday.
World
Hamas has objected to the proposal for a Palestinian national unity government, fearing its military wings used to seize control of Gaza in 2007 would be broken up and demanding guarantees of international recognition.
Forging Palestinian unity is regarded as crucial to reviving any prospect for a Palestinian state based on peace with Israel. Fatah, the mainstream movement until a 2006 election victory by Hamas, backs negotiated peace but the Islamists reject it.
Hamas members were quoted by independent Palestinian news agency Maan Friday as saying Egypt had accepted Hamas's proposal for amendments to the pact that, along with the Egyptian document, would "become points of reference."
Aboul Gheit responded: "Such reports on the reconciliation process are inaccurate and do not represent Egypt's position which stands as it has always been: the existing document must be signed by Hamas as it has been signed by Fatah.
"Egypt has no inclination nor is it ready to allow for any amendments to this document either in the form of direct changes made to it or even as an appendix," Aboul Gheit told reporters.
PACT DETAILS
The pact also calls for restoring the security forces of the Palestinian Authority, the Fatah-led body created under 1990s interim peace deals, and planning for legislative and presidential elections in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Egypt, the main mediator in the internal Palestinian feud, drafted the pact in October 2009 after staging talks for six months between Fatah, Hamas and smaller Palestinian factions.
Aboul Gheit was speaking after a meeting between President Hosni Mubarak and U.S. special envoy George Mitchell, who is mediating indirect talks between Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority
The PA holds sway only in self-rule areas of the West Bank.
"The Egyptian document has not been changed and still stands," Aboul Gheit said. "We invite our brothers in Hamas to sign the pact. As for their reservations, those can be directly discussed between Hamas and Fatah."
Fatah signed the pact in October 2009 while Hamas refrained, demanding guarantees that it would be recognized internationally should it win in a future election and that no embargo would be imposed on it.
After Hamas wrested control of Gaza from Fatah, Israel tightened its blockade of the impoverished coastal strip.
Hamas and other factions also demand clarification over a clause in the pact banning the creation of military formations outside the authority of the new unity government, saying this clause could be used to dismantle their military wings in Gaza.
Any reduction in military ranks for Hamas and smaller factions such as Islamic Jihad in Gaza would undermine their political clout in dealings with Abbas's Fatah.
Mitchell called on all parties to "avoid any unnecessary confrontations."
Hamas refuses to recognize agreements Fatah signed with Israel and has been locked in a power struggle with the formerly dominant Fatah faction since it won an election four years ago.
(Reporting by Marwa Awad; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
World
Add a Comment
*We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language or appear to be spam and review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters.
© Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters
Editorial Editions:
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
United States
Reuters
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Help
Journalism Handbook
Archive
Site Index
Video Index
Reader Feedback
Analyst Research
Mobile
Newsletters
RSS
Podcasts
Widgets
Your View
Labs
Thomson Reuters
Copyright
Disclaimer
Privacy
Professional Products
Professional Products Support
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Careers
Online Products
Acquisitions Monthly
Buyouts
Venture Capital Journal
International Financing Review
Project Finance International
PEhub.com
PE Week
FindLaw
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.
Other News on Saturday, 19 June 2010 3 Americans, 1 Brit killed in southern Afghanistan
Rescuers search for missing from floods in southern France
Mexican wrestling muscles into US videogame arena
Spanish judge says he should be acquitted
2 Americans, 1 Brit killed in southern Afghanistan
I killed, cut off heads says repentant Mexico hitman
|
IMF chief backs embattled Spanish government
One in four US adults, teens have texted while driving: Pew
Nobel-winning novelist Saramago dead at 87
2 Americans killed in southern Afghanistan
Iceland safe haven for press freedom: Wikileaks insider
Second strike hits China Toyota supplier
|
Russia serious about change, Medvedev tells West
Sia Writing Songs For Britney Spears
Senate Tries to Break Deadlock on Emergency Unemployment Benefits
Court says search of policeman's pager not privacy violation
Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum Share "The Vow"
Colombia rescuers fight to reach miners after blast
|
Time to wake up to cyber threat: experts
Denmark's beached whale 'has no chance of survival'
Texas Woman Charged With Assault After Boyfriend Shot n Face
FCC Wants To Tighten Broadband Rules
Nigerian village rues the day the oil men came
|
Apple Asks FCC To Guard iPhone Secrets
Kosovo terror suspect wanted in U.S. released
|
35,000 Cases Of SpaghettiOs Recalled Over Processing Fears
Indian Lawmakers Get Verbal Assurances From Clinton On Pakistan
Walgreens, CVS Reach Network Pharmacy Deal
Massachusetts Father Arraigned In Murder Of Family
Verbeek hits back as Socceroos face crunch
Five communist rebels slain in Philippines: police
S.Korea must respond sternly to N.Korea attacks: army chief
Japan growth plan bets on green-tech, health, tourism
Hong Kong leader concedes defeat in reform debate
Thai government hints at extending emergency rule
Another Toyota strike shuts major plant in China
China plans Xinjiang crackdown for riot anniversary
Nearly 70 dead as China floods continue
Gold price hits record above $1,258 an ounce
Dutch Layar signs global augmented reality deals
|
Madrid's Prado to stage Turner exhibition
In Italy, love it, hate it, gotta have a vuvuzela
Beatles manuscript nabs 1.2 million dollars at auction
Jewel in the croon: Music is key to love, say scientists
Ingres, Ellsworth Kelly face-to-face at Rome expo
History sewn up in buttons
Human Heads Found At Arkansas Airport
Lesbians get real on TV's Real L Word
|
Vocal problems force Simon & Garfunkel tour cancellation
|
Tilda Swinton finds life colliding with fantasy
|
Moscow film festival bids to boost Russian cinema
|
British dandy, author Horsley dies: report
|
Militants kill NATO soldier in Afghanistan: alliance
Sweden's future queen to wed former personal trainer
Apple shares hit all-time high of 275 dollars
Deposed Kyrgyz leader blamed over ethnic violence
|
Afghan informers play dangerous game in Taliban heartland
Sarkozy rival to launch new French political party
Caracas asks Interpol to arrest anti-Chavez media mogul
U.S. missile strike kills 12 in NW Pakistan
|
UN chief: Security in Afghanistan has not improved
5 NATO troops including 3 US killed in Afghanistan
Toyota shuts China plant after more strikes reported
|
U.S. Stocks Inch Higher Friday, Gain On The Week
5 NATO troops including 1 US killed in Afghanistan
Gunmen attack police building in south Yemen
|
Over 100 dead or missing after heavy China rains
|
Obama renews call for release of Myanmar's Suu Kyi
|
Mexican police find 12 bodies in Cancun
|
One million caught up in Kyrgyz violence, U.N. says
|
Quake off India's Andaman islands
|
Odds against Wales but All Blacks wary
Calif. university will allow media at Palin event
US drone strike kills three in Pakistan: officials
Minimum and maximum temperatures in Celsius
Karzai visits Hiroshima to pray for atomic bomb victims
Probe into top China official linked to J&J: report
Vietnam steps up car horn patrols: media
Moderate quake hits India's Andaman Islands
Dalai Lama criticises anti-whaling protesters
China's vice president to visit Australia amid tax spat
China minister shrugs off labour unrest concerns
More than 1 mln evacuated in China over flood threat
G20 summit to debate China's currency policy: Canada
Suu Kyi marks 65th birthday under house arrest
Famous Polaroid photo collection goes under hammer
Oliver Stone's 'South of the Border' highlights festival
John Lennon handwritten lyrics sell for $1.2 million
|
Michael Jackson concert promoters pay up as anniversary nears
|
Cyrus steps out of tween idolhood toward Liberty
|
Cyndi Lauper realizes longtime dream with Blues
|
Rapper Chuck D takes aim at Arizona in new track
|
REVIEWS: The-Dream, Stone Temple Pilots, Sergio Mendes
|
Nobel-winning Portuguese author Saramago dies at 87
|
Philadelphia jazz singer finds warm welcome overseas
|
Twenty-two dead as Turkish troops clash with PKK
|
EU chief Barroso says euro is strong
Fewer Afghan civilians hurt: NATO
|
Al Qaeda network severely degraded: U.S. envoy
|
Egypt says will not alter Palestinian unity pact
|
Iran denies U.S. assertion its missiles menace Europe
|
Fallen Tree Pins Driver To Death During Storm, 170,000 Without Power
One dead in Iraqi protest over power cuts in Basra
|
In season of optimism, Kashmir Hindus dream of return
|
Boot of Wilkinson helps England stun Wallabies
US drone strike kills 11 in Pakistan: officials
US envoy ends tour with visit to Egypt's Mubarak
Records: Girl's killer had calm, calculating mind
Record number of Indian candidates seeking office
China central bank to promote currency reform
China to allow more exchange rate flexibility
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights