JAKARTA - The competing Palestinian factions signed a deal in Algeria on Thursday, trying to resolve the 15-year dispute by holding elections within one year after months of talks mediated by Algeria.
Leaders from 14 factions, including the two main rivals, Fatah and Hamas, held talks two days before the Arab summit in Aljir, the Algerian capital in November.
The deal aims to end a rift between President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and the Hamas Islamist group that has separated Palestinian rule in the Gaza Strip from the West Bank, hindering Palestinian state ambitions.
However, the delegations have not agreed to form a unity government, citing The National News Oct. 14.
The agreement was signed by a prominent figure from the Fatah group and by the head of Hamas, who controls Gaza.
Citing Reuters, the split between Palestinian factions, triggered after Hamas won the legislative election in 2006, has prevented further elections since.
The Hamas group, which opposes peace with Israel, took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 while the western-backed Palestinian Authority Abbas remains dominant in the West Bank.
Under Thursday's 'Alignment Declaration', the presidential and Palestinian Legislative Council elections will take place, acting as parliamentary for Palestinians in occupied territories.
It also sets elections for the Palestinian National Council, a parliament for Palestine including millions of diaspora. Algeria agreed to host the council.
After the signing ceremony, senior Fatah official Azzam Al Ahmad promised, "the agreement will be carried out and will not remain a death certificate", describing the years of division as cancer.
Meanwhile, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said the agreement marked "a happy day for Palestine and a day of grief for the occupation (Israel)".
The deal also recognizes the Palestinian Liberation Organization, led by Abbas, as the only representative of the Palestinian people, and calls for the election of its national council within a year.
In this regard, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune described the agreement as historic.
President Tebboune, who mediated Thursday's deal, said in a speech at the signing ceremony at the State Palace that the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had used the same building to announce the independence of the Palestinian State in 1988.
The agreement was signed before foreign ambassadors and military bands playing the national anthems of Palestine and Algeria.
It is known that Fatah and Hamas have signed several similar deals in the past, but none have led to elections.
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