Hamas seeks direct meeting with Fatah on 'national strategy' after 8th general conference

Hamas on Thursday called for a direct meeting with the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) on a joint "national strategy" after the conclusion of Fatah's eighth general conference.

The conference represents "an opportunity to achieve a shift in Palestinian internal national relations," and could contribute to "enhancing readiness and preparedness to confront Israeli plans," Hossam Badran, head of Hamas' Office of National Relations and a member of its political bureau, said in a statement.

Badran accused Israel of seeking to "liquidate the Palestinian cause entirely by exploiting international and regional circumstances."

He called on Fatah's leadership to engage in a "direct meeting" with Hamas after the end of the conference to agree on "a Palestinian national strategy on all issues concerning the Palestinian people during this sensitive stage."

"The time has come to rise above disagreements and the repercussions of the past" and focus on "the present and the future based on national partnership and collective responsibility," he said.

It is important to take "political and field action commensurate with the sacrifices of the Palestinian people," he added.

Fatah, founded under the leadership of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 1959, is the largest faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization and has been the dominant force in the Palestinian Authority.

Fatah's eighth general conference kicked off Thursday in the West Bank city of Ramallah, with sessions being held simultaneously in Gaza, Cairo and Beirut. The three-day conference is expected to elect the movement's two highest leadership bodies, the Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council.

On its first day, the conference re-elected Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the movement's leader, according to Palestinian official news agency WAFA.

Fatah's seventh general conference was held in Ramallah in 2016, during which Abbas was re-elected as the movement's leader.

Fatah and Hamas have been at odds since 2007, when Hamas took control of Gaza, while Fatah remained dominant in the West Bank.

The two Palestinian factions have engaged in multiple rounds of talks in Beijing and Cairo over the recent years on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation and discussing post-war arrangements in Gaza.