Hamas movement’s leader in Gaza Strip Yehya Sinwar said Thursday that its decision to achieve internal reconciliation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party is “strategic and irreversible.”
Sinwar told a group of youths that his movement “will carry on making concessions in order to achieve a real national reconciliation on the ground.”
He stressed that Hamas made the decision because it decided not to put its own interests as top priority.
On Monday, Rami Hamdallah, prime minister of the Palestinian consensus government, is scheduled to arrive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with all his cabinet ministers and the chiefs of security apparatuses in the West Bank.
The visit was part of an agreement reached in Cairo two weeks ago between Hamas and Egypt to enable Hamdallah’s government to take over the power in Gaza.
Hamdallah’s consensus government was formed in June 2014, following an agreement reached between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza, but the two rivals had disputed over employees’ salaries and security control on the crossings.
Sinwar said his movement intends to “eliminate the Palestinian-Palestinian differences” to focus on serving the Palestinians.
He vowed not to allow anyone or any party to “obstruct the path of reconciliation,” in order to realize the dream of liberation for the Palestinian people, not for the “rule of Gaza.”
Hamas has been ruling the Gaza Strip since 2007 after a violent conflict with Fatah, which has retained control over the West Bank.
But as a result of Egypt’s mediation to achieve Palestinian unity, Hamas announced on Sept. 17 the dissolution of its administrative committee in Gaza to allow the consensus government to take over its administrative duties.
The Hamas move came after Abbas’ government imposed tough sanctions against Gaza, including the reduction of salaries for employees, sending some of the employees to early retirement and reducing electricity supply to Gaza.