Hamas ‘not committed’ to unity deal, says Fatah

This file photo taken on July 20, 2017 shows fighters from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement, marching in the streets in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis. (AFP / SAID KHATIB)

RAMALLAH: Fatah’s top negotiator said Wednesday that rival movement Hamas was “not committed” to a landmark Palestinian reconciliation agreement, two days ahead of a key deadline to implement the accord.
“Hamas is not committed to the agreement it signed in Cairo to end the division,” Azzam Al-Ahmad, chief negotiator for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah, told AFP.
“Until this moment, the problems and obstacles from Hamas are still there and are increasing.”
Palestinian Authority employees were prevented from returning to work at a number of ministries in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, a union said, in another sign of tension.
The UN envoy for the Middle East peace process meanwhile held meetings in the Gaza Strip as part of efforts to urge Hamas and Fatah to follow through on their accord.
Hamas is scheduled to hand back control of Gaza, including all ministries, to the Palestinian Authority by Friday, a decade after seizing it in a 2007 near civil war.
The Hamas-run union for public employees said it had instructed its delegates to block former employees from returning to work at the ministries, saying their return came in a “random manner” and aimed at “creating great problems.”
Witnesses said dozens of former employees were prevented from going back to work at the finance, health and education ministries among others.
In a separate development, an Israeli official said his country will refuse Swiss diplomats access to the Gaza Strip until further notice after recent meetings were held with Hamas leaders.
Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman issued the order to prevent the diplomats from travelling to the Palestinian enclave from Israeli territory, the official said on condition of anonymity. The order will remain in place “until clarifications occur,” said the official.
On Tuesday, Switzerland’s envoy to the Palestinian Authority, Julien Thoni, met Hamas’s chief in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar.
At least one other recent meeting was also held with Hamas leaders.
Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the US and EU.
Switzerland however has contacts with Hamas in order to maintain dialogue with all parties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as part of its peace and human rights efforts.