Khaled Mashaal

With additional reporting by Abd Al-Raheem Ali, IOL Staff Writer

CAIRO, January 22 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements have finally agreed to attend the inter-Palestinian talks in Cairo after Egypt responded to their demand to invite other two Palestinian factions.

A senior Hamas official had said Tuesday, January 21 that the Egypt-hosted talks due to start Wednesday had been called off because Cairo had not invited certain factions as promised.

“Hamas and Islamic Jihad have decided to participate in the talks after Cairo decided to invite representatives of all factions, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and Saika”, said Gaza-based Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Other Palestinian officials said the talks planned for Wednesday, January 22 would be held on Thursday, January 23 instead.

The two Palestinian groups earlier announced that they would stay away from the Cairo gathering if the two the Palestinian factions the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) led by Ahmed Jibril and Al-Sa’qa are not invited.

“The inter-Palestinian dialogue aims primarily at firming up national unity between different Palestinian factions; therefore, it is by no means acceptable to skip out a number of Palestinian factions, since it will only deepen the rift instead of healing it,” spokesman for Hamas Abdel-Aziz Al-Rantissi told IslamOnline.

Speaking to IslamOnline’s Gaza correspondent, Hamas’s spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin had said that Hamas demanded that the dialogue should be all-inclusive, pointing out that the key Palestinian group had backtracked on taking part in the talks when it learned that the aforesaid factions would not enter into the dialogue.

“Hamas has hammered out a deal with the dialogue’s organizers that all Palestinian factions must be around in Cairo. But some sources demanded the exclusion of certain factions… and this is a brazen breach of the sealed deal,” Yassin said.

A spokesman for Islamic Jihad Khaled al-Batch also affirmed that his movement hopes that Egypt will invite all Palestinian factions, pointing out that he saw eye-to-eye with Sheikh Yassin on the importance of holding an overall dialogue to enhance its credibility.

Unconfirmed information had said that Egypt has not invited the two groups, adding that a number of key Palestinian factions accused them of aborting the inter-Palestinian dialogue in August 2002.

Earnest Efforts to Save the Dialogue

Meanwhile, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s delegation, Maher Taher, said the Egyptian government has no objection to inviting the two factions, provided that all groups agreed to their presence.

Taher said he held talks with head of Hamas’ politburo Khaled Mashaal, Zakaria Al-Agha, a member of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, and a number of Palestinian factions, who came to Cairo for the dialogue to defuse the crisis.

Taher said the Popular Front will put forward a working paper, which includes the following seven items, which aver that:

1- The Palestinian people are fairly entitled to resist the unbridled Israeli aggression and the intifada must be seen as a legitimate right for the Palestinians

2- Resistance operations are self-defense against all Israeli violations

3- It is important to help the PLO act in unison.

4- Palestinian refugees have every right to return to their homes

5- It is incumbent upon all factions to create a democratic collective leadership.

6- It is important to establish a sovereign Palestinian state with Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital.

7- It is necessary to pay undivided attention to the national dimension and the Palestinian cause.

For his part, Zakaria al-Agha, a member of Arafat’s Fatah movement, said Fatah’s delegation arrived in Cairo on Tuesday, asserting that the delegation was ready to kick off talks.

The Cairo meeting is reported to moot means to revive the long-stalled Middle East peace process and better adopt a unified stance by all Palestinian factions.