Fatah delegation returns to Ramallah after Cairo talks

By Nour Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine

A Fatah delegation has returned to Ramallah to confer with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after meeting with Egyptian officials in Cairo, according to Fatah spokesman Atef Abu Seif.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Abu Seif said that delegation members had spoken with Egyptian officials in Cairo, who had also briefed them on the results of recently-concluded Hamas-Egypt talks.

"The delegation is now back in Ramallah to brief the Palestinian leadership on the latest developments," the spokesman.

He did not provide further details regarding the nature of the delegation’s discussions in Cairo.

The Fatah delegation arrived in the Egyptian capital late Sunday with the ostensible aim of discussing the foundering Hamas-Fatah “reconciliation process” with Egyptian officials.

The delegation included members of Fatah’s influential Central Committee, including Azzam al-Ahmad, Hussein al-Sheikh and Majed Faraj.

Last week, members of a Hamas delegation made a similar visit to Cairo, where they, too, conferred with Egyptian officials.

Fatah and Hamas signed a reconciliation deal last year, but its terms were never implemented due to deep-seated differences -- some of them ideological -- between the two factions.