GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian prime minister, Rami Hamdallah, convened the first meeting of his Cabinet in Gaza on Thursday in a move meant to signal more involvement of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority in running this enclave after seven years of exclusive control by the militant group Hamas.
The display of Palestinian unity was largely intended to inspire confidence before an international donors’ conference for the reconstruction of Gaza, to be held in Cairo on Sunday. There, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority is expected to request $4 billion to rebuild the Gaza Strip’s infrastructure and rehouse the tens of thousands of residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged in the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas this summer.
Hamdallah, who leads a government of national consensus that was formed in June and is backed by Abbas’ mainstream Fatah party and by Hamas, is the highest profile West Bank leader to visit Gaza since 2007. That year Hamas seized control of the territory, a year after winning elections and after a brief but bloody factional war with Fatah amid a failed unity government.
“The government efforts will focus on various tracks to rescue Gaza and bring relief to its population,” Hamdallah told reporters as he arrived in Gaza via the Erez crossing atth Israel.
“We have a moral and humanitarian duty toward our people in Gaza. All of us need to work hand in hand,” he said, adding, “We are here also to end the division and empower the language of reconciliation.”
Salah Bardawil, a Hamas official, said the visit “should have taken place a long time ago, but it is better late than never.”
“The visit is important for the conference to remove the international and Israeli pretext that there is no unified Palestinian government,” Bardawil added, referring to the donors’ meeting hosted by Egypt and sponsored by Norway.
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The United States, and many Western nations will not deal directly with Hamas as long as the group refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist, or to renounce violence; the world powers prefer to see reconstruction funds go through the Palestinian Authority.
The government, made up of professionals not formally tied to Fatah or Hamas, resulted from a reconciliation pact reached in April. Although such agreements have remained unfulfilled in the past, the challenges of reconstruction appear to have imposed a more practical agenda on the rivals.
“This tells the world that the Palestinians are ready and have ways to deal with the reconstruction file,” Talal Okal, a political analyst in Gaza, said of the government meeting.
Hamdallah and the dozen or so ministers and senior officials with him were greeted by an honor guard of Hamas security officers and four ministers who live in Gaza. Hamas security forces guarded the convoy.
The government meeting was held in the Gaza residence of Abbas, who has not visited the territory since 2007. Hamas recently vacated the house as a conciliatory gesture.
The meeting lasted about 15 minutes.
Hamdallah planned to spend the night in a Gaza hotel.
Riad Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, told Voice of Palestine radio Thursday, “This meeting is more symbolic than anything else. It was important that it was convened and the role of the consensus government was cemented in the reconstruction process.”
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