Daily Updates with RF Rizwan Farrukh
Fatah and Hamas, rival Palestinian factions, have announced a reconciliation deal, agreeing to work together to form a unified government in the upcoming weeks.
The two factions split in 2007 and no reconciliation agreements have been implemented prior to this. The deal came into play in the midst of troubled peace talks between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel
Following this announcement, Israel has decided not to attend the negotiation session planned for Wednesday evening.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier said Mr Abbas would have to choose between peace with either Israel or with Hamas.
Does [Mr Abbas] want peace with Hamas or peace with Israel? You can have one but not the other”
Benjamin Netanyahu Israeli Prime Minister
You can have one but not the other. I hope he chooses peace; so far he hasn’t done so,
he warned.
Israel shares its views with the US and the EU in seeing the Hamas group as an Islamist terrorist organisation.
