Progress on the Recognition Issue?

From Haaretz.

Hamas, Fatah reach deal on plan that implicitly recognizes Israel

By News Agencies

Hamas and Fatah on Tuesday completed an agreement over a plan that implicitly recognizes Israel, ending weeks of acrimonious negotiations, a top official said.

"We have an agreement over the document," said Ibrahim Abu Najah, coordination of the "national dialogue" over the proposal.

Palestinain Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah has been trying to coax his Hamas rivals into endorsing the document, which calls for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, based on the 1967 borders.

All the obstacles were removed and an agreement was reached on all the points of the prisoners' document," Rawhi Fattouh, a senior aide to Abbas, said after factions meeting in Gaza initialed the accord.

Fattouh said Haniyeh and Abbas would formally announce the deal later in the day. A Hamas spokesman confirmed an agreement was reached.

But the phrasing of the deal between Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas deal appeared to leave the prime minister's movement wriggle room on the issue.

He has endorsed the plan as a way to end crippling economic sanctions against the Hamas-led Palestinian government and pave the way to reopening peace talks.

Western states imposed sanctions on the Palestinian government following Hamas' victory in parliamentary elections earlier this year, in the wake of the group's refusal to recognize Israel, renounce violence or abide by peace treaties signed by its predecessor, Fatah.

Islamic Jihad, another militant group, said it still rejected several points in the document, including the concept of a Palestinian state limited to the West Bank and Gaza.

Jihad Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad official, said the group would issue a statement later detailing its final position.

Some Palestinian sources said the tense security situation, with the Israel Defense Forces massing troops and tanks on Gaza's border in the wake of the abduction of an IDF soldier, had pushed the factions to intensify their efforts to reach a political agreement.

The Guardian has this:

Fears of an Israeli assault on Gaza have all but overshadowed the agreement between Hamas and Fatah over the so-called "prisoners' document", which brings to an end months of tensions that have seen gun battles between armed forces loyal to the two groups.

Palestinian politics has been torn between president Mahmoud Abbas, who is a member of Fatah, and the more hardline Hamas party that has dominated its parliament since the January elections.

The US and EU imposed sanctions on the Palestinian territories after the elections because it considers Hamas a terrorist group, but the "prisoners' document" is hoped to address international concerns by toning down Hamas' insistence on armed force and its implacable opposition to the existence of Israel.

Negotiator Salah Zeidan said preparations were being made for a formal signing ceremony. "All political groups are prepared for a mutual ceasefire with Israel," he said.

"We have an agreement over the document," said Ibrahim Abu Najah, coordinator of the "national dialogue" over the proposal.