Fatah endorses Doha deal after Hamas fuss

RAMALLAH - Agence France-Presse

A masked Palestinian tries to put a Palestinian flag on the fence of the Israeli army prison near Ramallah to support Khader Adnan, 33, a senior member of Islamic Jihad jailed who has been on hunger strike for 54 days. AP photo

The Palestinian leadership Feb. 9 endorsed the latest agreement between the leaders of Fatah and Hamas and called for preparations for elections to be speeded up. The latest statement came after MPs of the Hamas majority in the Palestinian parliament called on Feb. 9 for the scrapping of a reconciliation accord with Fatah on constitutional grounds.

Palestinian president and Fatah head Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal inked an accord in Doha on Feb. 6 placing Abbas at the head of an interim government to supervise the run-up to elections later this year. On Feb. 9, members of Fatah’s Central Committee, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee and leaders of PLO-affiliated groups, gave “full support for the results of the Doha agreement,” according to a statement read by the executive committee’s secretary general, Yasser Abed Rabbo. The leadership also urged Palestinian electoral officials to push ahead with the registration of eligible voters in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem and set a firm date for elections.

The Doha deal has been hailed as a step forward in the stalled implementation of the reconciliation agreement.