Two senior officials from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that consultations are underway to hold a meeting of several Palestinian factions in Cairo this week. However, they said the Fatah movement is unlikely to participate in the talks, which are expected to focus on forming a committee to run the Gaza Strip.
One of the officials said that several factions are already present in Cairo, including the Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and the Reformist Current led by exiled Fatah leader Mohammad Dahlan. He added that Hamas had not yet arrived.
“Cairo is organizing the meeting, but no official invitations have been sent so far,” the source said, explaining that the event remains informal due to Fatah’s reluctance to join at this stage.
A source close to Fatah said the movement insists that any dialogue must take place within the framework of a comprehensive national dialogue, similar to previous rounds held in Egypt and China.
He argued that a limited meeting of a few factions “does not amount to a national consensus that could end the division or form a unified national strategy,” particularly amid “attempts by some to isolate the Gaza Strip.”
The upcoming talks follow an earlier Cairo meeting on October 24, which Fatah also boycotted. During that gathering, the factions agreed to continue implementing the ceasefire arrangements and to hand over Gaza’s administration to an interim Palestinian committee composed of independent figures from the enclave.
The factions endorsed the creation of an international committee to oversee the funding and implementation of Gaza’s reconstruction, emphasizing the unity of the Palestinian political system and the need for an independent national decision.
However, disputes later emerged over who should lead the new administrative committee, after Israeli media reports claimed that the factions had agreed to appoint Amjad Shawa as its head.
Last week, Abdelfattah Dawla, a spokesperson for Fatah, told Asharq Al-Awsat that his movement “will not stand in the way of any proposed candidate for the Gaza Administrative Committee, provided they are qualified professionals from the Strip.”
He declined to give further details about potential candidates, but another senior Fatah official said Dr. Majed Abu Ramadan, the Palestinian health minister and a native of Gaza, remains among the leading contenders to chair the committee.
“He is a national figure with extensive field experience and high competence that qualifies him to assume such responsibility,” the source added.
Taher al-Nounou, a senior Hamas official, said in a televised interview from Doha last week that the movement had proposed 45 independent technocrats to serve on the Gaza Administrative Committee.
He noted that these nominees “have no political affiliations” and were approved by all participating factions during the October 24 Cairo meeting.
