Fatah, Hamas agree to release all political prisoners
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Xinhua, August 8, 2011
Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas agreed on Sunday in the Egyptian capital of Cairo to release all the political prisoners from both sides.
The Fatah delegation led by Azzam al-Ahmed and Hamas delegation by Musa Abu Marzouq arrived in Cairo on Saturday and had talks on Sunday.
After Sunday's talks in Cairo, a Fatah official said the session between the two parties was positive and important. "We are optimistic, and we finished item four in the agreement about the civil and society reconciliation," said the official.
Marzouq, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, said that " all issues will be discussed through forming committees in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in line with follow-up committees to check the implementation of national reconciliation."
Ahmed said that "the meeting today was successful because it brought life back to the agreement signed in May, and we will work to overcome difficulties and obstacles that challenge the implementation."
"By discussing all the agreement's items and approving practical steps, we meant to approach the life problems of ordinary citizens, such as the detainees in Gaza and the West Bank, the problems of issuing passports and movement of the citizens and their traveling abroad," he added.
When answering a question about naming the prime minister, he said that "all the issues are interrelated and we will discuss other topics in details in the coming meeting."
Ezzat el-Rashaq, a member of Hamas political bureau said that " we discussed the procedures of building confidence between the two parties regarding the most important issues for the citizens, top of which is the prisoners and those banned from traveling, besides removing the impact of the division."
"Traveling is a legitimate right for every citizen unless it is deprived by a court decision," Rashaq added.
Egypt also hailed the atmosphere of talks between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo as positive.
An official statement said the two movements agreed at the end of a meeting in Cairo Sunday to resume discussions on the remaining issues in Cairo in September, according to Egyptian official MENA news agency.
Leaders of the two Palestinian factions signed in early May in Cairo an Egypt-drafted reconciliation agreement, which envisions the formation of a technocratic government to rule the Hamas- controlled Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which was ruled by the Fatah-led Palestinian National Authority.
By proclaiming the reconciliation pact, Hamas and Fatah ended around four years of internal division, which began when Hamas routed the security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
Analysts said Sunday's meeting is a starting point from which all the political reconciliation will be achieved.
Ibrahim el-Darawi, chief of the Palestinian Studies Center in Cairo, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua that applying the social reconciliation is a real step and its impact will be effective in the Palestinian streets.
They left the government file aside and focused on the citizens and this will give creditability to the whole agreement among ordinary people, said the analyst.
"Today's results paved the way for the political reconciliation which will be achieved soon, after discussing the government and the elections in the coming meeting in September," Darawi said.
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