CAIRO: Arab foreign ministers on Wednesday called on Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to stay on in his post until his ruling Fatah party reaches a deal with Hamas, and also resolved to send aid to Gaza.
Abbas “should continue his responsibility as president of the Palestinian Authority until the rival groups reconcile, the ministers said in a statement obtained by AFP.
Abbas had threatened to call snap parliamentary and presidential elections if Hamas does not rejoin reconciliation talks aimed at healing the rift in Palestinian ranks sparked by the Islamists’ seizure of Gaza in June 2007.
The ministers met in Cairo to discuss the floundering Egypt-sponsored unity talks between the rival Palestinian factions.
Israel has blockaded the impoverished Gaza Strip since its seizure by Hamas. Egypt, which controls the Rafah border crossing with Israel, occasionally permits Palestinians to cross but has blocked relief convoys.
The ministers mandated the Arab League “to coordinate with Egyptian authorities to secure the entry of food and medicine into the Gaza Strip, their statement said.
Fatah, which controls some parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, had called on the Arab ministers to place responsibility for the failure of the reconciliation talks on the Islamist group.
Unity talks scheduled in Cairo for Nov. 11 were called off when Hamas announced a boycott hours before they were due to begin, saying Fatah continued to arrest its members in the West Bank.
Wednesday’s statement did not blame either group for torpedoing the talks. -AFP
