The Palestinian movement Hamas on Thursday called on the rival Fatah movement, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, to hold a “direct meeting” after the end of Fatah’s eighth conference to agree on a “national strategy”.
Fatah’s eighth general conference began on Thursday in the West Bank city of Ramallah and is due to continue for three days, to elect the members of the movement’s Revolutionary Council and Central Committee.
In a statement, Hamas political bureau member and head of the movement’s national relations office, Hossam Badran, said the conference was “an opportunity to achieve a shift in internal Palestinian national relations”.
He added that it could help increase “readiness and preparedness to confront the plans of the criminal Zionist enemy, which seeks to eliminate the Palestinian cause once and for all by exploiting international and regional conditions”.
Badran called on Fatah to hold a “direct meeting” after the conference “to agree on a Palestinian national strategy on all issues concerning our people during this sensitive stage facing the Palestinian cause”.
He said: “The time has come to rise above differences and the consequences of the past, and to look to the present and the future on the basis of national partnership, collective responsibility, and political and field action that matches the sacrifices of our people, who are waiting for clear and direct action to change their difficult reality in all areas.”
