Lawmakers from Hamas and those affiliated with a former Gaza strongman met on Thursday for the first time in a decade, in Gaza’s parliament building.
The meeting was the latest sign that an emerging Gaza power-sharing deal between the territory’s Hamas rulers and Mohammed Dahlan, a former leader in the rival Fatah party, is moving forward.
It also underscored a deepening rift in Fatah, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Dahlan fell out with Abbas in 2010.
Dahlan joined the meeting by video conference from his exile in the United Arab Emirates.
The legislature has been idled since Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces, which had been under Dahlan’s command, and took over Gaza in 2007.
Under a new deal, Dahlan is to use his foreign ties to help end Gaza’s border blockade.
