Gaza talks end in stalemate

Palestinian factions meeting in Yemen have ended five days of reconciliation talks without agreeing on who will control the Gaza Strip.

The militant Hamas delegation and the moderate Fatah group signed a statement in San’a saying they “accept the Yemen initiative as a framework for resuming dialogue to restore normalcy” that existed in the coastal region before Hamas’ violent takeover of Gaza last June.

Although today’s development reflected a failure of this week’s Yemen-brokered meetings, it was still a step forward in getting rival Palestinians to start talking to each other.

It also raised hopes Hamas would eventually agree to renounce its control of Gaza, hand back the control of the Mediterranean strip to the Palestinian Authority and restore a power-sharing national unity government.

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was present when both sides signed the statement at a ceremony today in San’a, said the Palestinian talks would resume next month. He did not set a specific date, but Palestinian officials close to the talks said the meeting would probably come as early as April 5.

“This is the first round of talks and we will help Fatah and Hamas to reach agreement in the interest of the Palestinian people,” pledged Mr Saleh.

The reconciliation talks in Yemen began on Tuesday when delegations from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Party and the Islamic Hamas movement flew in for talks with Yemeni officials on ending their divisions.

Azzam al-Ahmed, deputy prime minister and leader of Fatah lawmakers in the Palestinian parliament, and Hamas’ deputy leader Moussa Abu Marzouk, signed the statement, entitled the San’a Declaration.

Mr Saleh called on rival Palestinians to stop what he described as a media provocation campaign by each side and acknowledged that “there are some difficulties” but that “the good will expressed by the two sides will bring great achievements.”

Both Mr Abu Marzouk and Mr al-Ahmed said the division between them benefited Israel.

Hamas and Fatah broke ranks after fighters loyal to Hamas forcibly seized control of Gaza from Mr Abbas’ ruling Fatah last June. The clashes between the two shattered a Saudi-sponsored Mecca deal brokered in February, when the two groups agreed to share power in a national unity government.