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.



Blinken Says More than a Third of Israeli Forces in Lebanon Have Withdrawn

A member of the Spanish UNIFIL peacekeepers forces stands in front of the rubble of destroyed buildings during a patrol in the southern Lebanese village of Borj al-Mlouk, near the border with Israel, on January 7, 2025, amid a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
A member of the Spanish UNIFIL peacekeepers forces stands in front of the rubble of destroyed buildings during a patrol in the southern Lebanese village of Borj al-Mlouk, near the border with Israel, on January 7, 2025, amid a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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Blinken Says More than a Third of Israeli Forces in Lebanon Have Withdrawn

A member of the Spanish UNIFIL peacekeepers forces stands in front of the rubble of destroyed buildings during a patrol in the southern Lebanese village of Borj al-Mlouk, near the border with Israel, on January 7, 2025, amid a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
A member of the Spanish UNIFIL peacekeepers forces stands in front of the rubble of destroyed buildings during a patrol in the southern Lebanese village of Borj al-Mlouk, near the border with Israel, on January 7, 2025, amid a fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said that more than a third of Israeli forces in Lebanon have withdrawn since the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah.

Blinken, speaking to reporters in Paris, said that while challenges remain, the oversight mechanism put together by the United States and France to address concerns about ceasefire violations is working and functioning well.