CAIRO — Serious disagreements over control of security forces and other key issues emerged in statements Monday by officials of the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas movements, two days before they were due to sign an accord to end their four-year rift.
Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Hamas would not relinquish control of its security forces and would maintain its rule over Gaza even after the unity accord takes effect. That ran counter to the Fatah view that there would be a single authority with control of all the weapons in the West Bank and Gaza.
There also was a disagreement over how to relate to Israel and who the prime minister would be.
Under a framework accord reached last week, a unity caretaker government is to be formed to prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections next year. The ministers are supposed to be technocrats, not politicians. The deal is to be signed Wednesday in Cairo.
On the issue of security forces, Haniyeh said Monday: “The resistance weapons will not be touched, but we will manage together how to act,” without explaining how. He gave no indication that Hamas might give up its armed struggle against Israel or approve peace talks for the first time.
West Bank Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad insisted Monday: “The most important thing here is the struggle of our people should be nonviolent. . . . We need to finalize that policy and make it official.”
Hamas has been a rival of Fatah since the Islamist group was formed in the late 1980s.
