Wednesday, April 27, 2011

AN IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT in the Middle East: reconciliation?
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement and its bitter rival, the Islamist Hamas, struck a deal on Wednesday to form an interim unity government and fix a date for general election, both sides said.

The deal, which took many officials by surprise because of profound Fatah-Hamas divisions over how to resolve generations of conflict with Israel, was thrashed out in Egypt and followed a series of secret meetings.