Gaza City, Gaza Strip – The Palestinian president and prime minister, heading rival movements, on Monday failed again to agree on a joint government that might lead to lifting Western sanctions that have bankrupted their administration – but they planned to keep trying.
President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas met in Gaza, but officials said the talks ended with no accord on a national unity government made up of independent experts. Both sides said talks would continue today.
The talks came as fighting in northern Gaza heated up on the sixth day of an Israeli offensive. At least seven Palestinians were killed, including a suicide bomber.
Islamic Jihad released a video of the bomber, identified as Mirvat Masoud, after she blew herself up, wounding an Israeli soldier.
Only a few of the more than 100 Palestinian suicide bombers in the past six years have been women.
An Israeli missile aimed at a group of militants landed near a Palestinian kindergarten, killing a teenage boy, critically wounding a teacher and seriously wounding eight children, doctors said.
Abbas has been urging Hamas, which controls most government functions, to join his Fatah movement in a coalition to end international sanctions. The platform of the emerging government is vague about the key international demand of recognizing Israel and may not be enough to end the painful aid boycott.
Meanwhile Monday, Jordan’s government confirmed it is considering sending Palestinian troops under its control to the Palestinian territories, where clashes between Hamas and Fatah factions have sparked fears of civil war.
Chief government spokesman Nasser Judeh told reporters the possibility of sending a Jordan-based unit of the Palestinian Liberation Army “has been raised” with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Judeh’s comments followed reports that Abbas wanted to bolster his forces with Palestinian troops from Jordan.
Sending in the unit might stir opposition among many Palestinians, who believe the troops are loyal to the Jordanian government. Many Palestinians fear Jordan wants to regain control over the West Bank. Jordan renounced its claim to the West Bank in 1988.
