Hamas and Fatah meet and agree - to pretend to be unified

From Ma'an:

Political rivals Fatah and Hamas met Thursday evening in Gaza City, in a surprise discussion which touched on the upcoming Palestinian bid for membership of the UN.

Fatah national relations commissioner Diab al-Loh told Ma'an that officials from both factions discussed the reconciliation agreement which has faltered in implementation since its signing in May.

Hamas leader Ismail Radwan said the meeting focused on the unresolved facets of the reconciliation, and insisted that the issue of political detainees should be addressed first.

On the UN bid, Radwan said each party has its own point of view, but the main priority is the protection of national unity.

The Hamas official added that parties talked about making further efforts to have more meetings.

In English: They met, and they didn't agree on a single real issue. But they did agree to keep the farce of "unity" alive so as not to anger fed-up Palestinian Arabs who might rise up against them.

Palestine Press Agency reports that Hamas rejected a request by Fatah to allow rallies in Gaza that support the unilateral declaration of statehood at the UN.