Abbas, Mashaal: We agreed to work as partners

[oberliner]

CAIRO (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal on Thursday said they had resolved all their differences, after a meeting in Cairo to implement a unity agreement.

"We want to assure our people and the Arab and Islamic world that we have turned a major new and real page in partnership on everything do to with the Palestinian nation," Mashaal said.

"There are no more differences between us now," added Abbas, who heads the Fatah movement.

The president said the talks had been comprehensive, covering "all details about reconciliation," according to the Palestinian Authority news agency Wafa.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=439238

[bemildred]

1. Interesting. Sounds like more happy talk. nt

[bemildred]

2. Hamas to focus on popular resistance: Meshaal

A bit more of what Meshaal had to say.

---

The document, a copy of which was seen by AFP, outlines agreement on "the adoption of popular resistance" which is to be to be strengthened to oppose the seizure of land for Jewish settlement building and construction of the West Bank barrier.

"This resistance will be increased and organised and there is to be an agreement on its style, on greater efficiency and the formation of a framework to direct it," the accord says.

---

"I have instructed the Hamas leadership (in Gaza and Damascus) to adopt a political line and one with the press that doesn't upset the conciliatory spirit, and that truly reflects the atmosphere of reconciliation."

---

"The threats by Netanyahu's government and its security cabinet don't scare us but confirms that we are heading in the right direction," he said shortly after Israeli ministers decided to maintain a freeze on millions of dollars in tax monies owed to the Palestinians in response to the Hamas-Fatah rapprochement.

(more) http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jfpB76Nh9JnVRGfRUFeFSVv3-X5g?docId=CNG.3bc4edeb01a68a004d32cc6af01d2cf8.531

[bemildred]

3. Rival Palestinian Leaders Meet but Fail to End Rift

Alternative spin.

JERUSALEM — President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and the leader of the rival Islamic group Hamas met Thursday and the sides agreed to go ahead with elections in the Palestinian territories next year, according to officials, even as they failed to resolve differences over an interim unity government to prepare for the vote.

The meeting, in Cairo, was the first between Mr. Abbas, chief of the mainstream Fatah movement, and his rival, Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas, since the two men signed a reconciliation accord in May. Even since then, the leadership of the Palestinian territories has remained divided, with Mr. Abbas’s authority confined to the West Bank while Hamas controls the coastal enclave of Gaza.

It remained unclear even after the meeting on Thursday whether the two sides were indeed committed to a further narrowing of their differences, and whether they would take any tangible steps toward power sharing soon or at all.

The May accord, brokered by Egypt, called for a transitional unity cabinet of unaffiliated technocrats to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections within a year. Despite rosy public statements after their meeting on Thursday, the two men remained deadlocked over the makeup of that government, according to officials.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/world/middleeast/rival-palestinian-leaders-fail-to-resolve-rift.html

[King_David]

4. Say bye bye to European.USA welfare (Greek Style)

[shira]

5. No, unfortunately the more intransigent Hamas and the PA are, the more $$$ they will receive.

At most, there will be threats of cutbacks by the US and EU but that'll be it.