Hamas and Fatah exchange prisoners in reconciliation bid

Mahmoud Abbas & Khalid Michaal The Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) announced it will release Hamas-affiliated prisoners as a goodwill gesture to boost reconciliation efforts, a Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) official said on Sunday, after Hamas announced similar measures earlier that day.
Fatah and PLO leading figure Nabil Shaath said that preparations will begin in the coming days to release dozens of Hamas prisoners held for political reasons, adding that the PA has already recently released a large number of Hamas prisoners.
Hamas representatives will also start taking part in leadership meetings in the West Bank, also including sessions of the executive committee of the PLO, Shaath added.
"They are part of the Palestinian people, and they will be consulted on political issues," he said.
Further reconciliation talks are expected in Cairo after the November 29 UN bid to build a united government and prepare for elections.
All unresolved issues related to public sector employees will also be discussed, and factions will try to build a "political map for the future", Shaath said.
The Fatah leader also revealed that President Abbas will visit the Gaza Strip, although no date has been set yet.
Earlier on Sunday, Hamas indicated that they would free prisoners affiliated to Fatah, giving further momentum to reconciliation efforts since Israel's war on the coastal enclave.
Hamas spokesman Taher Al-Nunu said the government would grant an amnesty to all suspects and prisoners related to their conflict with Fatah in 2006.
The parties fought bitterly after Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006, splitting into separate governments in Gaza and the West Bank a year later.
Reconciliation talks have repeatedly stumbled, but Israel's eight-day war on the Gaza Strip which ended on Wednesday gave political impetus to ending the division.
Vice chairman of Hamas' politburo Moussa Abu Marzouk urged President Mahmoud Abbas to take two further steps in order to cement the reconciliation.
"I urge President Abbas to prepare a new election for the PLO National Council and to reinstate the suspended legislative council," Abu Marzouk said in a press release on Sunday.
A PLO official said earlier that President Abbas was expected to call a meeting of the PLO reform committee in Cairo after returning from the UN General Assembly this week, where he will file the PA bid to the UN General Assembly to recognise Palestine as a non-UN member observer state.
"The meeting will discuss the next steps after the vote on upgrading Palestine's UN membership from an autonomy region to a non-member state on November 29," DFLP leader Saleh Zeidan said.
It will also address ways to implement reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions, he said.
The committee to restructure the PLO was formed in the wake of a May 2011 reconciliation deal that was never implemented.
Zeidan said support across the West Bank and Israel for Gaza during Israel's recent eight-day bombing campaign helped improve conditions for reconciliation.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, not currently members of the body, have representatives on the reform committee.