CAIRO (AFP) – Palestinian factions signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo on Tuesday to end the divide between the West Bank and Gaza and hold elections in a year in an agreement Israel called a blow to peace.
Representatives of 13 factions, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fateh Party and its rival Hamas, as well as independent political figures, inked the deal following talks with Egyptian officials.
“All the Palestinian factions signed the document at a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials,” Bilal Qassem, politburo member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), told AFP.
He said all factions were given the opportunity to discuss the document and air any reservations.
“We signed the deal despite several reservations. But we insisted on working for the higher national interest,” said Walid Awad, a politburo member of the leftist Palestine People’s Party.
“We have discussed all the reservations. Everyone has agreed to take these points into consideration,” he told Egyptian state television without elaborating.
The agreement was immediately denounced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “a hard blow to peace process”.
Categories: Asia, Egypt, Israel, Middle East
When the Palestinians were not united the Israelis said we cannot make peace because they are not united. Now they cannot make peace because they are…
Ultimately the solutions for the Palestinians may be spiritual rather than political or military. I have a Google knol titled, Ishmael and not Isaac:
God on Trial is a movie and a World War II drama about a group of Auschwitz prisoners who decide to put God on trial. The tale is based on anecdotal reports of an actual band of concentration camp inmates who convened a rabbinical court to determine how such evil could exist in a God-centric universe as they awaited the determination of their own fates — death or hard labor. The Jews in the movie fail to see any reasons why God is not coming to their special rescue despite the Covenant that He made with Abraham and Moses. It is good movie, bringing out many good points as they try God for violating the special Covenant with them. But they completely fail to bring out that they may have themselves violated the Covenant, in not recognizing the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Covenant may have been moved to a different nation now!
What was the covenant that Allah gave to the Prophet Abraham and how has it played out for his two sons Ishmael and Isaac in the last 4000 years? If the promises and prophecies have come true over the last 4 millennia then there is every reason to believe that they are relevant to our times also. This article was originally published in November, 2009 volume of Ahmadiyya Gazette USA:
http://knol.google.com/k/ishmael-and-not-isaac#