RAMALLAH – A senior Fatah official has arrived in the Egyptian capital to discuss the implementation of the national reconciliation agreement, Fatah said Saturday. The movement said that Sa'eb Erekat, a member of its Central Committee, arrived in Cairo late Friday for meetings with top Egyptian officials to settle the obstacles that delay the implementation of the Egypt-mediated national reconciliation agreement. Fatah said that Erekat's visit comes in the wake of Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip that “necessitates the implementation of the unity deal between Fatah and Hamas.” Earlier, the Gaza-based Hamas leader Ahmed Yousef said that reconciliation meetings between the rival Fatah and Hamas movements are due to take place following Abbas's UN statehood bid, set to take place at the UN on Nov. 29. Yousef added that Egypt will ask the Palestinian factions to resume dialogue over national reconciliation. The Hamas leader said that until then, the Palestinian president would invest all his efforts in the statehood bid, for which he expressed full support, wishing Abbas all success. On Thursday, thousands of Palestinians rallied in Gaza City in support of the national reconciliation between Palestinian factions. The rally was attended by leaders from Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) Gaza Strip, local dignitaries and thousands of Palestinian residents. The participants waved the flags of Palestine, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and that of the PFLP to express national unity. They carried signs calling for the implementation of the Egypt-mediated national reconciliation deal. The four-year-old split widened in 2007, when Hamas, which won the parliamentary elections in 2006, routed forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
