CAIRO (Reuters) – The Palestinian president, who heads Fatah, and the leader of the Islamist group Hamas were in Cairo on Wednesday to endorse a deal to end a four-year rift but a last minute hitch cast doubt on the durability of the accord.
The Egyptian-brokered deal, denounced by Israel, calls for forming an interim government to run the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and prepare for a general election within a year.
Palestinians see this reconciliation as crucial for their drive to establish an independent state in the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war.
But the ceremony was delayed by a disagreement over protocol shortly before it began over whether Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal should sit on the podium with President Mahmoud Abbas or down among other Palestinian delegates in the hall.
"There is a dispute in the protocol over the seating of leaders," said one Palestinian source, who declined to be named.
"The difference is about where Meshaal will sit, whether he should be on the stage or among leaders of factions."
Officials from all the Palestinian factions had earlier signed the deal that Meshaal and Abbas were expected to endorse at the ceremony. It was not immediately clear why they were not going to put their own signatures to it.
"The signing has been done, everyone signed. Today is the crowning of this achievement," said senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath, speaking shortly before the ceremony.
ISRAEL ANGRY, WASHINGTON COOL
A spokesman for Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said the deal was signed on behalf of Fatah by Azzam al-Ahmad and for Hamas by Mousa Abu Marzouk. Palestinian officials said Wednesday's ceremony was a "celebration".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced the deal and stopped transferring Palestinian tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, saying Fatah must choose between Israel and the Islamist group that he says is an enemy of peace.
The United States has reacted coolly to the reconciliation accord. A State Department spokesman said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday spoke with Netanyahu and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on the deal.
Mark Toner told a news briefing in Washington that the United States would look at the formation of any new Palestinian government before taking steps on future aid.
"If and when a new Palestinian government is announced, we'll assess that based on its composition," Toner said. "Hamas needs to abide by the Quartet principles in order to play a role in the political process."
Egypt has set up a committee to oversee implementation of the accord, which calls for creating an interim unity government for the West Bank and Gaza Strip instead of the administrations led by Fatah and Hamas which currently run each territory.
(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Ali Sawaftah in Ramallah; Writing by Sami Aboudi and Edmund Blair; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
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