Hamas and Fatah unveil Palestinian reconciliation deal

BBC News online -- 23 April 2014

Fatah and Hamas officials said they planned to form an interim unity government within five weeks

Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have announced a reconciliation deal, saying they will seek to form a unity government in the coming weeks.

It comes as the peace talks between President Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel near collapse.

Hamas and Fatah split violently in 2007. Previous reconciliation agreements have never been implemented.

Israel's prime minister said Mr Abbas would have to choose between peace with Israel and peace with Hamas.

"You can have one but not the other. I hope he chooses peace; so far he hasn't done so," warned Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mr Abbas sent a delegation to Gaza for talks earlier this week.

The latest deal was announced on Wednesday at a news conference by representatives of Fatah and Hamas, an Islamist group designated a terrorist organisation by Israel, the US and the EU.

The factions said they planned to form an interim unity government within five weeks and hold parliamentary elections within six months.

"This is the good news we tell our people," Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Hamas-led government in Gaza, told reporters. "The era of division is over."

The two factions have been at odds since Hamas, which won parliamentary elections in 2006, ousted forces loyal to Mr Abbas and Fatah in Gaza during clashes in 2007 and set up a rival government.

Shortly after the reconciliation deal was announced, five people were injured in an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza, Palestinian medics said.

Israel said it had targeted militants preparing to fire rockets. On Monday, seven rockets were launched from the territory into southern Israel.