The agreement included a promise by Hamas to “respect” previous peace agreements with Israel, according to the Al-Jazeera network.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas signed the deal with Damascus-based arch-terrorist and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal.
Haniyeh has to wait for Mashaal to give a green light before going ahead with any major moves, including the prisoner swap deal to release kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit.
Mashaal said after the signing that the new agreement would “unify our ranks. There is a commitment to unity. We will preserve this partnership.”
Abbas said the agreement would “satisfy our people…and bring us to the shores of peace… This initiative has been crowned with success.”
Mashaal added that the international community “must respect our accord, recognize our Palestinian reality and deal with it seriously.”
Saudi Monarch “Resolved” Disagreements
Saudi Arabian King Abdullah played a pivotal role in forcing the two sides to resolve their issues and wrap up the talks before the start of Friday’s Muslim Sabbath.
Abdullah, according to the Ma’an news agency, stepped in when the talks broke down over the wording of the agreement.
The news agency reported that “the contentious word ‘commitment’, and its alternative, ‘respect’, in relation to abiding by previous agreements, [was] an issue to be included in the letter of entrustment for the emerging Prime Minister, was the last obstacle to an agreement...Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz [has now been] successful in resolving this issue.”
The king had ordered both parties to come to Mecca to work out their differences after a year of escalating fighting between the two factions in a struggle for control of the PA and its international funding.
Attempts between PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to form a unity government on their own failed repeatedly over the year.
Outside mediators, including Egyptian intelligence officials and Jordanian leaders, were also unable to stop the bloodshed which left hundreds dead and hundreds of others wounded, including women and children.
Agreement on Government Composition
The reconciliation accord stipulates that Haniyeh will remain PA prime minister. The Fatah group will name his new deputy.
Hamas will nominate a minister of state and planning and Fatah will nominate an independent minister of state.
Fatah appointed 55-year-old Hammuda Jarwan to head the key interior ministry, which controls the PA security forces.
Previous reports said an independent would be appointed as interior minister. Thursday night, however, a Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters that Abbas “will choose an independent interior minister from among five names that will be submitted to him by Hamas.”
Jarwan heads Fatah’s organization and recruitment in Lebanon and is a former military attorney general and has been the head of the military courts.
The Fatah spokesman announced that Dr. Salam Fayyad was nominated as finance minister. Former culture minister Ziad Abu Amr will become the head of the ministry of foreign affairs.
Hamas will receive a total of nine portfolios, leaving the terrorist group which kidnapped Shalit in control of the PA government. Endowments, economy, labor, local governance, sports and youth, communication, justice and education all went to Hamas.
Fatah, whose al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade terrorist group carried out the suicide bombing in the Israeli resort city of Eilat less than two weeks ago, was given six portfolios, including health, social welfare, public works, transportation, agriculture and prisoners’ affairs.
The remaining portfolios – tourism, information, women’s affairs and culture - will be distributed among the other government factions.
