Hamas and Fatah continue to accuse each other of a lack of commitment to the reconciliation deal signed in Cairo last May. 

Bethlehem-based Maan News quoted Fatah spokesman Ahmad Assaf as saying Saturday that “evidence on the ground shows that Hamas hasn’t fulfilled anything of the Cairo agreement.”

Assaf said Hamas continues to detain Fatah activists and denies Fatah members from Judea and Samaria entry to Gaza. The Hamas government in Gaza also refuses to open the Palestinian Central Elections Commission offices in Gaza, he said.

Hamas released a statement, too, on Saturday, accusing Fatah of undermining the terms of the reconciliation agreement by continuing to detain its party affiliates in Judea and Samaria.

The Hamas statement said Palestinian Authority (PA) forces have detained five Hamas supporters in Shechem and Bethlehem and summoned several other members for interrogation.

“Despite the talks about reconciliation and about halting political detentions and interrogations, the PA’s security services in the West Bank continue with their systematic policy against Hamas’ supporters,” the statement said.

PA activist Mustafa Barghouti, Fatah’s Jamal Abu al-Roub and Hamas man Nasser al-Shaer were among those attending a meeting of the “Freedoms Committee” Wednesday in Ramallah, in an attempt to end the division between Hamas and Fatah.