Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that plans were under way to allow for the participation of “new blood” in the country's development.
Mr Abbas also stressed the importance of holding reconciliation discussions between different factions as a “serious step and important step” towards unity, Palestine's state news agency Wafa reported.
The President made his remarks at the 11th Fatah Revolutionary Council session in Ramallah.
Revolutionary Council member Tayseer Nasrallah told The National that the first meeting to be held by the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation committee is set for next week.
Mr Nasrallah, however, criticised the slow progress, given that the first meeting between the factions was held in Egypt last month.
“The committee was supposed to have been formed immediately after the meeting,” he said.
“There are many difficult issues to be discussed, like unifying the security apparatus across the West Bank and Gaza and holding elections.”
Mr Abbas had called for holding presidential and legislative elections in 2021 but ultimately postponed the vote, citing concerns that Israel would not allow them to be held in East Jerusalem.
Fatah and Hamas have made several attempts at reconciliation in the past that have all eventually fallen through.
Mr Nasrallah said he was not optimistic that this round of talks would be any different.
Earlier this month, Hamas leaders pushed for holding municipal elections in the Gaza Strip – which would be the first in 17 years. It remains unclear when the vote will be held.
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
2024%20Dubai%20Marathon%20Results
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EWomen%E2%80%99s%20race%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Tigist%20Ketema%20(ETH)%202hrs%2016min%207sec%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Ruti%20Aga%20(ETH)%202%3A18%3A09%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20Dera%20Dida%20(ETH)%202%3A19%3A29%0D%3Cbr%3EMen's%20race%3A%0D%3Cbr%3E1.%20Addisu%20Gobena%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A01%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%20Lemi%20Dumicha%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A20%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%20DejeneMegersa%20(ETH)%202%3A05%3A42%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
