Fatah, Hamas leaders debate PLO reform in Cairo

Palestinian factions, including Hamas, are on the path joining the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal told AFP Thursday following unity talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.Abbas and Meshaal met to discuss reforming the PLO, in a bid to allow the Islamist movement and 13 other Palestinian factions to join.This is a new departure on the path to joining the PLO of all Palestinian movements, Meshaal said following the talks in the Egyptian capital.The Hamas leader said there was an excellent atmosphere surrounding his meeting with Abbas, which also included Egyptian intelligence chief Murad Muwafi and Palestinian independents.Independent MP Mustafa Barghouti said the participation of unaffiliated delegates such as himself and businessman Munib al-Masri alongside representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad was a historic event.It is the first time there is a unified leadership for all political and intellectual streams, he told AFP.In a statement, Hamas said the groups had decided to create an electoral commission, including members of every Palestinian faction, tasked with managing elections within the PLO.The commission will be led the speaker of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), Selim Zaanoun, and will meet in Jordans capital next month.A law concerning elections to the PLO was given to the participants for them to study and each movement is to give its response for January 15 so that it can be discusssed at the first meeting of the commission, the statement added.Thursdays meeting of the so-called provisional leadership, which was chaired by Abbas, included the leaders of all the Palestinian factions and members of the PLO Executive Committee.Earlier Thursday, Abbas signed off on the creation of a separate nine-member panel to chart a path forward for Palestinian presidential and legislative elections.It was the first time the provisional leadership body had met since it was formed in 2005 with the aim of providing a forum for debating reform of the PLO and allowing for the participation of factions such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.This meeting was the first concrete application of the Cairo agreement, of the reconciliation and of the partnership between all the political forces, Fatah delegation head Azzam al-Ahmed said earlier on Thursday.