The rival Palestinian political parties, Hamas and Fatah, signed a reconciliation deal in Cairo on October 12, 2017 as part of an effort to end the decade-long rift between the two. The deal intermediated by Egypt has served to bridge a bitter gulf between the Western-backed Fatah party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, an Islamist movement designated as a terrorist group by Western countries and Israel.
The declaration came after representatives from Hamas and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) convened in Cairo on October 10 to instrument a unity agreement that was signed in 2011, but never put into action.
