The Carter Center issued a statement on Friday, hailing the reconciliation deal signed by once rivals Hamas and Fatah Wednesday evening in Cairo.

The center, founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, commended members of Hamas and Fatah for ” having the vision to begin the process of reunifying the Palestinian people”, saying that the Egyptian brokered deal provides a framework to resolve many of the longstanding issues faced by the Palestinian people in both Gaza and the West Bank.

The statement issued by the center on Friday expressed hope that the reconciliation deal would pave the way for the reformation of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), improve Palestinian governance, the election process and the security sector and reduce human rights violations.

Carter Center Statement on Palestinian Reconciliation

The Carter Center congratulates the Government of Egypt for their success in brokering the historic intra-Palestinian reconciliation agreement announced on April 27. The Carter Center further commends the representatives of Fatah and Hamas for having the vision to begin the process of reunifying the Palestinian people. Mediated by the Government of Egypt, the agreement provides a framework for resolving long-standing issues regarding reform of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Palestinian governance, elections, human rights abuses, and the security sector.  Now, the challenge will be implementing the agreement on the ground. 

President Carter said, “This agreement, and the promise of elections in the next twelve months, has the potential to arrest the spiral of intra-Palestinian human rights violations and preserve Palestinian democracy.  It can also lead to a leadership representing all Palestinians capable of negotiating peace with Israel.  Based on my years of contacts with Fatah and Hamas, I am confident that, if handled creatively and flexibly by the international community, Hamas’ return to unified Palestinian governance can increase the likelihood of a two-state solution and a peaceful outcome.  I encourage the international community to respect this decision by the Palestinian leadership and to view it as part of the larger democratic trend sweeping the region.”

Israel has rejected the Hamas-Fatah unity deal, with Netanyahu saying shortly after the reconciliation was announced that “the Palestinian Authority must choose either peace with Israel or peace with Hamas. There is no possibility for peace with both. Hamas aspires to destroy Israel and fires rockets at our cities … at our children.”

Hamas’s charter calls for the destruction of Israel, and Israel and the Gaza Strip-based group exchanged heavy fire earlier this month. Hamas hit school bus with an anti-tank missile, mortally wounding an Israeli child who later died.

(YWN Israel News Desk / Haaretz)