Abbas Visits Doha After Amman, Cairo

SMA NEWS – Ramallah

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas began Sunday a two-day visit to Qatar, during which he will meet Prince Tamim Al Thani to discuss bilateral relations and the latest regional developments.

The trip is Abbas’s third official international visit this year after he traveled to Amman and Cairo in November to meet with Jordanian monarch Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdul Fattah El-Sisi.

Palestinian Ambassador to Qatar, Munir Ghannam, stated that the Palestinian delegation will meet counterpart Qatari officials to discuss a number of issues.

This visit comes four days after Israel announced the normalization of its relations with the sixth Arab country, Morocco, and the fourth in 2020, following: UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan.

Abbas is now seeking an Arab dialogue on a unified vision for the Palestinian cause, in preparation for launching a new political process in the region after the change of the US administration.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has intensified its meetings with the international quartet and Arab countries.

Palestinian officials announced the formation of an Egyptian-Jordanian-Palestinian committee to prepare for an international conference on peace early next year.

In a previous report, Israeli television “i24” said that Sisi seeks to host an Israeli-Palestinian peace summit, in the presence of PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas.

In addition, several Israeli reports noted that Netanyahu might visit Egypt upon an official invitation.

Abbas is looking forward to talks with the Qatari officials, who have good relations with the US, Israel, and Hamas movement.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Abbas wants to coordinate Arab positions before the President-elect Joe Biden assumes power.

They indicated that the Palestinian President wants to ensure Arab support for an international peace conference that launches new negotiations, which will also address reconciliation with Hamas.

Reconciliation talks between Fatah and Hamas were suspended last month after the PA resumed relations with Israel, and the two movements exchanged accusations about the failure of reconciliation.

Fatah officials stated that Hamas foiled the recent Cairo talks by withdrawing from the agreement on elections, while Hamas indicated that the resumption of relations with Israel affected those efforts.

Meanwhile, Hamas proposed another meeting of the secretaries-general of the factions, which was held earlier this year and led to the unity talks between Fatah and Hamas.

Head of Hamas National Relations Office Husam Badran, said that his movement supports the five factions’ call to continue the dialogue and renew the Palestinian meeting of the secretaries-general.

Badran affirmed the movement’s keenness on achieving Palestinian unity in the face of the challenges threatening the homeland and national constants.

Hamas agrees with the statement and reiterates its firm position on national unity.

“We reiterate our readiness to continue dialogue to restore unity and rebuild Palestinian national institutions based on partnership.”

On Saturday, the five factions called for a new round of talks between the secretaries-general to discuss all the issues of the national cause.

The factions issued a statement after their meeting in Damascus, affirming their adherence to the comprehensive national dialogue, ending the division, restoring national unity, and rebuilding Palestinian national institutions on the basis of a national partnership.

The meeting included the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, the Islamic Jihad Movement, the Vanguards of the Popular Liberation War (al-Saeqa), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Observers believe Fatah will not agree to this proposal because it considers it “a waste of time.”