Hamas movement refused Sunday Fatahs demand to hand over Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority (PA) to complete the reconciliation process. This came in the first response from the movement after Egypt resumed efforts to end the division. Senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouq said the movement is not an occupation force to hand over the rule in the Strip for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and leave. “We are in our country and we are partners in managing our Palestinian affairs whether in Ramallah or Gaza, and we should discard this mentality,” said the member of the movements political bureau. He added that Palestinians should choose a leadership that is successive and could handle their affairs without foreign dictates. Abu Marzouq’s comments were made a few days after member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) Executive Committee Azzam al-Ahmad announced that Egypt will seek to put inter-Palestinian reconciliation talks back on track. Ahmad, who is also a member of Fatah Movement’s Central Committee, explained after talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo that a high-ranking delegation from Egypt will visit Ramallah soon to meet with PA president Mahmoud Abbas. He said the delegation will also visit Gaza Strip to resolve obstacles to inter-Palestinian reconciliation, however, he didn’t set the dates for such visits. He also pointed to the lengthy discussions that took place in Cairo with involved officials, saying “there are positive developments.” Abu Marzouq explained that these developments are related to a new paper presented by Egypt to Fatah movement on the Palestinian reconciliation process. He said Fatah has agreed on the paper’s content with some reservations. The paper might include a timetable for handing over the Strip and solving its problems, and it might also include suggestions to let Egypt oversee committees to resolve differences in thorny issues. Notably, the reconciliation issue has come to light again after being frozen for one year, due to differences on empowering Rami Hamdallah’s former government, sanctions on the Strip and talks on a ceasefire with Israel. Fatah wants comprehensive empowerment in the Strip, including security forces, judiciary, land authority, tax collection and border crossings. These demands have been rejected by Hamas without lifting sanctions on Gaza and securing salaries of its military personnel through tax collection in Gaza. Hamas has also requested the formation of a new government that includes all factions and independent figures to solve crises hitting the Strip. Among such crises are problems in the health and electricity sectors, Hamas employees’ salaries and the full commitment to paying them with guarantees on not terminating their services, guaranteeing their rights and solving the security issue without firing any Hamas affiliated security commanders or employees. Hamas also stressed the need to fully integrate its employees in a security institution operating in accordance with national principles and rejected any talk about the resistance’s weapons. Fatah rejected Hamas’s demands, and they both disagreed over the implementation of the articles in 2001 or 2017 agreements.