Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday urged rival factions to reach an agreement that would allow his people to break the international isolation since Hamas took office.
In a speech delivered at An-Najah University in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Abbas said he was optimistic the various parties would reach an agreement on a statehood document during a new round of talks in Gaza.
Dominated by Abbas’s Fatah faction and the ruling Hamas movement, the fresh set of talks opened late on Wednesday in an effort to bridge massive differences that have sparked violence and raised the spectre of a Palestinian civil war.
The focus of their discussions is a document drawn up by faction leaders jailed by Israel, which flies in the face of Hamas’s avowed determination to destroy the Jewish state by entailing implicit recognition of the country.
Abbas and Hamas have been locked in crisis since the president set a July 26 referendum date on the blueprint, pending a cross-party agreement.
The plebiscite is vehemently opposed by the ruling Islamist movement.
“All parties decided to conclude the dialogue in a week and that bodes well because with every day that passes, the stranglehold around us tightens more and more and the situation deteriorates,” Abbas said.
“All the participants agreed that after a week as of yesterday [Wednesday], they would try to agree on a common position that we could present to the world and demand the end of the siege on us, so we can again live and breathe,” he said.
The Palestinian government led by Hamas, which trounced Fatah in a January election, has faced a dire financial crisis since taking office, owing to the suspension of direct European Union and United States aid.
The West has boycotted the government because of Hamas’s refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and abide by previous peace agreements.
The blueprint at the centre of the cross-party talks and referendum bid calls for an end to attacks in the Jewish state, a national-unity government and a Palestinian state on land conquered by Israel in 1967. — AFP