Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of hosting Advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas and Palestine Minister for Economic Development Mohammad Shtayyeh in my office to discuss the status of Palestinian Government unity government talks between Fatah and Hamas.
This is a highly unusual and important exchange because Shtayyeh is a solid Fatah party leader — who in contrast to many of his party colleagues — wants to achieve a workable unity government that includes Hamas. He believes Hamas wants this too and is working hard to counter what he considers to be a disinformation campaign that Hamas is not interested in coming back into a workable governance situation.
Egypt Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman has been in Washington this last week sharing details about his efforts to generate a unity government agreement between Fatah and Hamas.
Sources tell me that the US government position on a unity government has not yet fully come together and significant divisions exist between key players on Obama’s staff.
The talks between Hamas and Fatah will resume on the 1st of April.
— Steve Clemons
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