Qatar's Foreign Minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al Thani, announced early Tuesday that there is still disagreement on two points out of six in the initiative to form a Palestinian unity government.
After holding three meetings with President Abbas and with Prime Minister Haniya in Gaza, Al Thani told reporters, “We talked about the six points that will lead to forming a national unity government.”
The Qatari official added “In order to lift the siege imposed on the Palestinian people we have to wait for other parties now. The Palestinians are not the problem, as even though there are two points in disagreement, they can be solved. The obstacles are for international parties.”
Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim said, “These states want the agreement formulated in a different way, but what was important today was to have Hamas and Fateh sign the agreement in order to push the international community to begin recognizing the government.”
Qatar's top diplomat stated “We hope to overcome the disagreed upon points in the near future and to overcome any contention. It is not a problem for the Palestinians, but for the international community two disagreed upon points is too great a gap between the international community and the Palestinian government for the new government to be formed.”
On his part, President Abbas told reporters immediately upon ending the meeting with the Qatari Foreign Minister, “The meeting was the beginning of mediation by Sheikh Hamad. We talked at length and now the Sheikh is speaking with Ismail Haniya.”
Responding to a question whether he viewed the meeting as a success or failure, the President said, “Something has failed and now we are working toward solving that, and because we are on our way, nothing has really failed. God willing, we will finish.”
