Palestinian Authority Leaders Talk With Israel and Hamas
Palestinian Authority leaders pursued dual tracks of reconciliation on Saturday, holding meetings both with Israeli negotiators in Jordan and with Hamas leaders in Gaza. The talks with the Israelis went late into the evening. The Gaza negotiations yielded some results.
Hamas said its prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, met with officials from Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas, at Mr. Haniya’s house in Hamas-controlled Gaza. He gave permission for the Central Elections Commission to operate in Gaza to prepare for Palestinian elections scheduled for as early as May.
Until Egypt brokered a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah in May 2011, Hamas had banned any activity by the elections commission in Gaza, and the decision to let it operate was a sign of progress between the feuding parts of the Palestinian national movement.
In addition, Mr. Abbas’s Gaza residence, which had been seized by Hamas in June 2007 after a four-day civil war that resulted in the Palestinian Authority being thrown out of Gaza and confined to the West Bank, was returned to Fatah for its use.
full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/world/middleeast/palestinian-authority-leaders-talk-with-israel-and-hamas.html