Senior Fateh and Hamas officials met on Sunday and reached an agreement on the division of the Palestinian Security Forces. Senior Fateh leader, Mohammad Dahlan, head of the Security Services in Gaza, participated in the meeting along with the Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyya, and the Minister of Interior, Sa’id Siyam.
The officials approved agreements already reached during the talks of the Palestinian factions, including the absorption of the Hamas’ newly formed security force into the Palestinian police, and its redeployment in the Gaza Strip.
According to the agreement, Rasheed Abu Shbak, head of the Preventative Security Service, and a close friend of Dahlan, will be the commander of the internal security force which will oversee civilian police, the preventative force and emergency civilian services.
Abu Shbak will be subordinate to the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, but also work in direct coordination with Siyam.
Other security services – including the Palestinian National Security and intelligence will be placed under the control of Abbas, and will have no connection to the Hamas government.
Earlier on Sunday, senior Hamas leaders said that they expect that the talks between the Palestinian factions on national unity on Monday evening, the talks also involve a diplomatic plan, known as the prisoners’ document, drafted by senior Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.
Hamas members of the Legislative Council, Ahmad Bahar, and Ibrahim Dahfur, said on Sunday that 98% of the disagreements over the plan have been sorted out.
Earlier on Sunday, representatives of Fateh and Hamas movements in Gaza said they had reached an agreement on 15 out of the 18 points in the prisoners’ document.
The three points that remained unsolved are the status of the Palestinian Liberation Organization as the only legitimate body for holding negotiations with Israel. The right of the Palestinian people for armed resistance within the borders of 1967, and the question of holding a referendum on future agreements with Israel.
Representatives of both factions also said that the parties have also made significant progress on the question of recognizing international decisions, and the decisions by the Arab League on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Arab League, during the 2002 Beirut summit, offered to recognize Israel if it completely withdraws from the Palestinian territories it occupied after the1967 Six-Day war.
