Palestinian factions announce reconciliation deal
Top news:
Top story: Fatah and Hamas, the two largest Palestinian parties, announced that they had reached a deal to create an interim unity government and hold elections within a year. The reconciliation agreement would bring an end to almost four years of estrangement between the factions, which began after Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
The agreement was announced in Cairo, and brokered by Egypt's caretaker military government. It represents one of the first signs that the turmoil across the Arab world is having an impact on Palestinian politics.
The Palestinian factions offered few details about the makeup of the planned unity government, though negotiators did announce that Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who is hated by Hamas, will not play a role. Fayyad's absence, and the broader implications of Hamas's involvement in a unity government, could imperil the hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance that the United States provides annually to the Palestinian Authority.
Israel denounced the reconciliation deal. "The Palestinian Authority has to choose between peace with Israel and peace with Hamas," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the deal crossed "a red line," and laid out several measures that Israel could take against the Palestinian Authority in response.
U.N. investigators meet Qaddafi officials: A U.N. team investigating human rights violations interviewed Libyan officials in Tripoli, just as forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi renewed their bombardment of the besieged city of Misrata.
| Middle East - 200 members of Syria's Baath Party have reportedly resigned over the government's brutal response to protests.
- Four Bahraini protesters were sentenced to death for allegedly killing two police officers.
- At least 15 people were killed and over 130 were injured during anti-government protests in Yemen.
Europe - The Syrian ambassador to Britain's invitation to the upcoming royal wedding was withdrawn.
- A debate has emerged in France over its treatment of Tunisian migrants.
- The trial of the primary suspect in the 2000 murder of a Ukrainian journalist has begun.
Africa - An Ivory Coast warlord was killed by forces loyal to President Alassane Ouattara.
- A Ugandan opposition figure was arrested for a fourth time in the past month.
- Police in Burkina Faso protested the rising cost of living in the country.
Americas - Turnout is high in early voting for Canada's general election.
- Argentine authorities arrested the man thought to be behind the use of submarines to smuggle drugs.
- The toll from the mass graves found in northwest Mexico reached 104.
Asia - An Afghan air force pilot killed eight U.S. soldiers and one American contractor in Kabul.
- A census shows that China's population increasingly lives in urban areas, and is aging.
- Thailand and Cambodia reached an agreement to end a week of clashes along their disputed border.
-By David Kenner |
ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/Getty Images
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder