The 2017 Fatah–Hamas Agreement is a reconciliation agreement signed between

Fatah Fatah ( ; ), formally the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (), is a Palestinian nationalist and Arab socialist political party. It is the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and ...

and

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

on 12 October 2017. The agreement was brokered by

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, and signed in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

. The deal was signed by the leader of the Fatah delegation

Azzam al-Ahmad Azzam al-Ahmad (; born 24 November 1947) is a Palestinian politician, economist and diplomat. He holds a BA in economics from Baghdad University and has held various significant positions throughout his career. He was the head of the From 1971 ...

and Hamas deputy politburo chief Salah al-Arouri. Leading up to the agreement, Hamas announced on 17 September 2017 that it was dissolving its Supreme Administrative Committee in response to Egypt's efforts as part of the Fatah–Hamas reconciliation process. Hamas was due to hand over control of Gaza by 1 December 2017. Both Hamas and Fatah requested Egypt that takeover be delayed to 10 December. As at January 2018, the parties have failed to implement the deal, arguing over the interpretation of its details and missing deadlines it set. The most contested issue between Hamas and Fatah is the future of the weapons of terrorist groups in Gaza. Hamas has said it will not accept any group conceding its weapons. Meanwhile, PA President and Fatah Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has said he would only agree to a scenario in which the PA security forces control all of Gaza's weapons. In early March 2018, an Egyptian security delegation was to arrive in Gaza to follow up on the stalled reconciliation efforts.

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In the agreement, it is stipulated that Hamas gives Fatah full civilian control of the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. I ...

, and in return the economic blockade of Gaza is to ease. The agreement arises because in the last few months, Hamas had been under heavy pressure from the

Palestinian National Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank as a c ...

. Punitive measures included cutting salaries of Palestinian Authority employees living in Gaza and reducing the electricity supply to the Gaza Strip, which was already suffering from an

electricity crisis An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particular, those that supply n ...

due to the Egyptian and Israeli blockade. The agreement stipulates that legislative, presidential and national council elections should be conducted within one year of its signing. The deal would also see both Hamas and Fatah form an interim government before the elections. Under the agreement 3,000 Palestinian Authority police officers are to be placed in the Gaza Strip. The head of the Palestinian Authority delegation

said that the

Rafah border crossing The Rafah Border Crossing () or Rafah Crossing Point is the sole crossing point between Egypt and Palestine's Gaza Strip. The Rafah crossing was opened by Israel after the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, 1979 peace treaty and remained under Isra ...

between Egypt and Gaza would be operated by the presidential guards of PA President

Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas (; born 15 November 1935), also known by the Kunya (Arabic), kunya Abu Mazen (, ), is a Palestinian politician who has been serving as the second president of Palestine and the President of the Palestinian National Authority, P ...

by 1 November 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2017 Fatah-Hamas Agreement Intra-Palestinian peace efforts Fatah–Hamas conflict 2017 in Palestine History of Fatah History of Hamas

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See also

References