Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today praised the reconciliation agreement between the two main Palestinian factions, his Fatah and rival Hamas, calling it "the final agreement to end the division".
"I welcome the Cairo agreement and instruct the delegation (in the Egyptian capital) to sign it immediately," Abbas said in a telephone interview with AFP.
He added that he was informed in detail about the negotiations, conducted through the mediation of Egypt.
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said earlier today that the deal was reached under "generous Egyptian patronage."
Haniyeh announced that the details would be announced in Cairo later today.
The talks in Cairo were the latest in a series of attempts to end a decade-long Palestinian territorial, political and ideological divide that has paralyzed aspirations for statehood, according to the AP agency.
Hamas won a surprise parliamentary election in 2006 and seized control of Gaza by force the following year, defeating forces loyal to the more moderate, secular Fatah. Since then, Abbas has ruled the autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Although previous attempts at reconciliation have failed, this one may succeed because circumstances have changed and both sides want it more. Hamas, which refuses to disarm, has found it increasingly difficult to govern and provide basic services for the two million residents of Gaza, one of the most densely populated territories in the world.
Abbas (82), on the other hand, is thinking about his legacy. He insisted that he would restore control of Gaza only if Hamas handed over power to him.
The Fatah leader has Western support and aspires to establish a state in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as its capital, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Hamas indicated in its new political manifesto earlier this year that it might consider a state within those borders, but it also supported an Islamic state in historic Palestine, including present-day Israel. The extremist organization refuses to renounce violence and recognize Israel, which considers it a terrorist organization. The USA and the EU have the same attitude.
Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip for more than a decade after seizing control by force from forces loyal to the more moderate, secular Fatah. This led to a crippling territorial and political division of the Palestinians. Abbas ruled in autonomous enclaves in the West Bank, which is under Israeli occupation.
Hamas and Fatah officials have been negotiating in Cairo for two days on the return of Abbas' Palestinian Authority to Gaza.
The previous Sunday, a session of the Palestinian government was held in Gaza City, chaired by Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, the first since 2014. All previous attempts to reconcile the two largest Palestinian factions since 2007 have not borne fruit.
The main stumbling blocks include control of the weapons arsenal of the military wing of Hamas, which has waged three wars against Israel, and the fate of thousands of Hamas civil servants.
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