Gaza/Cairo - Islamic Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal announced Monday that Egypt will call for a national Palestinian convention in Cairo in October to sign an inter-Palestinian reconciliation accord. After a meeting with Egypt's intelligence chief Omer Suleiman, Meshaal told a news conference in Cairo that a final draft of the Egyptian initiative is to be presented in October to end the Palestinians' division.
Meshaal, who is heading a high-ranking Hamas delegation that includes leaders from Gaza and Damascus, arrived in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the Egyptian proposal for Palestinian reconciliation.
The proposal calls for signing a reconciliation agreement to end the three-year-old Palestinian split, mainly between Fatah and Hamas,and to deploy a security force in Gaza trained by Egyptian and Arab security officers.
The Egyptian proposal also calls for forming a joint factional committee to coordinate between the Hamas government in Gaza and the Palestinian government in the West Bank.
It also calls holding general Palestinian presidential and legislative elections in June 2010. The Fatah party of president Mahmoud Abbas accepted the proposal, while other factions had expressed reservations on certain points.
Meshaal called on Palestinian Authority officials in the West Bank to immediately stop its security coordination with the right-wing Israeli government headed by Premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
"I call on the authority (PA) as well as all officials in the West Bank to stop the security cooperation and give more consideration to armed resistance against the occupation," said Meshaal.
He also called for "a real Palestinian unity ... and hurry up in achieving inter-Palestinian reconciliation. We came by ourselves to present our views to the Egyptian proposal."
Since June 2007, right after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip by force and routed Abbas security forces, Gaza has remained under Hamas rule, while the West Bank remained under Abbas' administration.
