Abbas, Palestinian Factions Meet in Egypt's 'El Alamein' for Unity Talks

Palestinians hang flags near the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, July 12 (Reuters)
Palestinians hang flags near the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, July 12 (Reuters)
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Abbas, Palestinian Factions Meet in Egypt's 'El Alamein' for Unity Talks

Palestinians hang flags near the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, July 12 (Reuters)
Palestinians hang flags near the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, July 12 (Reuters)

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas arrived in El Alamein in Egypt Saturday, the news agency Wafa said.

The Palestinian news agency said that as well as chairing Sunday's meeting of the heads of Palestinian factions Abbas "is scheduled to meet with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi".

Last week, Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah made his group's participation in the talks conditional on the release of its members and those of other factions detained by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.

In a statement to AFP Saturday, Islamic Jihad official Mohammad al-Hindi again denounced "continued political detention and prosecution of the resistance".

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is also boycotting the talks.

Sunday's meeting will include the heads of other political factions, including Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Both Abbas and Haniyeh met in Ankara on Wednesday in the run-up to Sunday's crucial meeting. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has good relations with both, hosted the talks and said his government will do its best to push for intra-Palestinian reconciliation.

A Palestinian official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said the talks aim to "end the divisions (between factions) in preparation for a unified Palestinian government and presidential and general elections".

Haniyeh's spokesman Taher al-Nunu told AFP that Hamas sought to "unify the Palestinian position" under a strategic plan to "confront the Israeli occupation in light of the aggression of its extremist government".

Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, the movement has been at loggerheads with Abbas's Fatah which administers Palestinian-run areas of the West Bank, which Israel has occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Attempts to end the more than 15-year Fatah-Hamas rift saw leading figures from both movements sign a reconciliation deal in Algiers last year, promising long-delayed Palestinian elections in 2023.

Egypt's meeting comes amid a resurgence of violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which this year has killed at least 203 Palestinians, 27 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources from both sides.



Death Toll in Lebanon Crosses 3,000 in 13-Month Israel-Hezbollah War, Health Ministry Says

A building destroyed during an Israeli airstrike southern Lebanese town of Ghazieh, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
A building destroyed during an Israeli airstrike southern Lebanese town of Ghazieh, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
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Death Toll in Lebanon Crosses 3,000 in 13-Month Israel-Hezbollah War, Health Ministry Says

A building destroyed during an Israeli airstrike southern Lebanese town of Ghazieh, 03 November 2024. (EPA)
A building destroyed during an Israeli airstrike southern Lebanese town of Ghazieh, 03 November 2024. (EPA)

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Lebanon during 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's Health Ministry said Monday. At least 13,492 have been injured.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel the day after Hamas’ surprise attack into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 ignited the war in Gaza. Hezbollah and Hamas are both allied with Iran.

The conflict dramatically escalated on Sept. 23 with intense Israeli airstrikes on south and east Lebanon as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs, leaving hundreds dead and leading to the displacement of nearly 1.2 million people.

Israel began a ground invasion of south Lebanon on Oct. 1, causing wide destruction in border villages but making little advances on the ground inside Lebanon.

In Israel, 72 people have been killed from Hezbollah attacks, including 30 soldiers.