Shtayyeh Pledges Govt Support to End Palestinian Division

From left to right, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune and the Hamas movement leader Ismail Haniyeh meet in Algeria in July. (AFP)
From left to right, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune and the Hamas movement leader Ismail Haniyeh meet in Algeria in July. (AFP)
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Shtayyeh Pledges Govt Support to End Palestinian Division

From left to right, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune and the Hamas movement leader Ismail Haniyeh meet in Algeria in July. (AFP)
From left to right, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Algerian President Abdelmajid Tebboune and the Hamas movement leader Ismail Haniyeh meet in Algeria in July. (AFP)

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Monday his government is ready to take any step that supports reconciliation efforts and end the division between Palestinian factions.

At the beginning of a government session, the PM said Algeria will invite the Palestinian factions, including the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, for a meeting that aims to end the division.

Shtayyeh saluted Algeria for its keenness to achieve unity among the factions.

Algeria has taken it upon itself to host dialogue between Palestinians ahead of the Arab League summit that it will host early next month. The National Conference for the Comprehensive Palestinian Dialogue is expected to be held in Algiers on October 11 and 12.

Senior officials from 14 Palestinian factions were already invited to attend the meeting, which hopes to end the more than 15 years of internal Palestinian division.

An official source in the Islamic Jihad said the movement had received an official invitation from Algeria to attend the talks.

Issam Abu Daka, from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Wasel Abu-Yousef from the PLO Executive Committee also received invites.

Algeria had discussed last month its reconciliation efforts with Fatah and Hamas officials.

On Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, head of Fatah, said the movement is open to working with efforts made by Egypt and Arab countries, namely Algeria, to achieve reconciliation.

Last August, Algerian President Abdel Madjid Tebboune said his country was keen on the reconciliation because a Palestinian state cannot be established without it.

Palestinian factions held their first reconciliation talks in Algeria in January, but they failed to achieve any breakthrough.



Syria to Take Time Organizing National Dialogue, Foreign Minister Says

 Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Jordan January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Jordan January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Syria to Take Time Organizing National Dialogue, Foreign Minister Says

 Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Jordan January 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani speaks during a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Amman, Jordan January 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Syria will take its time to organize a landmark national dialogue conference to ensure that the preparations include all segments of Syrian society, Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said on Tuesday, according to state media.

The conference is meant to bring together Syrians from across society to chart a new path for the nation after opposition factions ousted autocratic President Bashar al-Assad. Assad, whose family had ruled Syria for 54 years, fled to Russia.

"We will take our time with the national dialogue conference to have the opportunity to form a preparatory committee that can accommodate the comprehensive representation of Syria from all segments and governments," Shibani said.

Diplomats and visiting envoys had in recent days told Syria's new rulers it would be better not to rush the conference to improve its chances of success, rather than yield mixed results, two diplomats said.

The new government has not yet decided on a date for the conference, sources previously told Reuters, and several members of opposition groups have recently said that they had not received invitations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday time was needed for Syria to pick itself up again and rebuild following Assad's overthrow, and that the damage to infrastructure from 13 years of civil war looked worse than anticipated.

Since Assad's fall on Dec. 8, Türkiye has repeatedly said it would provide any help needed to help its neighbor rebuild, and has sent its foreign minister, intelligence chief, and an energy ministry delegation to discuss providing it with electricity.

Türkiye shares a 911-km (565-mile) border with Syria and has carried out several cross-border incursions against Kurdish YPG militants it views as terrorists.