CAIRO (Reuters) – Palestinian factions, including rivals Hamas and Fatah, will hold unity talks in China in July, two senior Hamas and Fatah officials told Reuters on Monday, as they try to resolve deep divisions.
The two factions met in China in April to discuss reconciliation efforts to end around 17 years of political splits.
The meetings come amid rising tensions between the two factions over Hamas’ continued war with Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the Fatah movement, has previously criticized the Islamist Hamas group for the war, while Hamas has accused the Palestinian president of taking Israel’s side.
The two main Palestinian factions have been at odds since Hamas won legislative elections in 2006 and took over the Gaza Strip in 2007 after a brief civil war in which it routed the Western-backed Palestinian forces loyal to Abbas.
Efforts since 2007 by Arab countries, led by Egypt, have so far failed to end power-sharing disputes between Hamas, which runs Gaza, and the Fatah movement of Abbas, which makes the backbone of the Palestinian Authority.
(Reporting by Nidal Al Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta; Editing by Josie Kao)
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