Middle East Monitor / July 27, 2023
The Palestinian Authority has reportedly refused to release political detainees ahead of reconciliation meetings scheduled with Palestinian factions and brokered by Egypt, informed sources have said.
According to the sources, the PA secretly contacted the Palestinian factions in an attempt to circumvent the demand to release political prisoners ahead of the Cairo meetings.
The head of the PA’s intelligence service, Majid Faraj, secretly contacted the leadership of Islamic Jihad, asking it to participate in the Cairo meetings, while refusing to release detainees.
Faraj went on to ask for the political detainees file to be discussed in Cairo and not before then, the sources added.
Egyptian officials had attempted to resolve the detainees file, however the PA did not respond, forcing Cairo to stop its efforts.
The Cairo meetings are scheduled to start on Sunday, with the participation of many political forces with the aim of agreeing a unified national leadership and drawing up a comprehensive confrontation strategy to face the increasing settler attacks on Palestinians.
