Hamas, Fatah say close to agreement to avoid vote

GAZA - Rival Palestinian factions have said they are close to hammering out an agreement that might avoid a referendum showdown between President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and governing Hamas Islamists.

Abbas had said earlier during a Cairo visit that an agreement on a political platform by the groups, caught in a violent power struggle, would mean there would be no need for a July 26 ballot on a proposal that implicitly recognises Israel.

Hamas, a militant group whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, brands the referendum an attempt to overthrow the Palestinian government, which Hamas won control of in a January parliamentary election.

A senior Abbas aide, Rawhi Fattouh, said after talks between Palestinian factions late on Saturday in Gaza that the groups were close to finalising an agreement on a political platform, saying, "maybe Monday's session will be the final session."

Fattouh and Palestinian Prime Minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said more talks were needed regarding three points mentioned in the proposal. Officials from both groups refused to give details on the issues discussed.

"There are still some points remaining that need more consultations," Haniyeh told reporters. "God willing, in the very near future, our people will listen to something assuring."

The United States and other Western powers demand Hamas change its stand on the Jewish state as a condition for lifting an aid embargo that has brought the Palestinian Authority near collapse since Hamas took office in March.

The Quartet of mediating powers - the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia - said in a statement on Saturday that they had agreed on an aid scheme that bypasses the Hamas-led government.

The Quartet said it endorsed an EU proposal for a temporary mechanism that includes aid for the Palestinian health sector and other utilities to help the poorest Palestinians.

US and European officials, as well as Israel, had said after the embargos were implemented that they would aim to seek alternative means of transferring funds to health and humanitarian services in the Palestinian territories.

The struggle between Fatah and Hamas has intensified since Hamas beat Abbas' long dominant party the January ballot. About 20 rival gunmen have died in recent weeks of fighting.

Violence among Palestinians has grown further in recent weeks as government employees, which the Palestinian government has been unable to pay salaries to as a result of the aid embargo, have often protested by storming public institutions.

Haniyeh called for Palestinian groups to refrain from violence and to stand united. He also said the "door was open" for other groups to join the Hamas-led Palestinian government, a move that could also lead to more easing of sanctions.

Hamas has resisted the demands of Western countries to recognise Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and accept past peace accords.

While Fatah wants a Palestinian state on land that Israel occupied in 1967, Hamas ultimately wants an Islamic state on all of what is now Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

- REUTERS