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"The Islamist group Hamas will meet its rival Palestinian Fatah party in mid-October and expects to ratify an Egyptian-mediated reconciliation pact, Hamas's leader in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Tuesday.
Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007 after routing Fatah forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas, who administers the West Bank, and Cairo is now trying to heal the rift to pave the way for legislative and presidential elections.
Asked about the possibility of ratifying the pact next month, Haniyeh said: "This is what we expect and this is what we hope for. It is very possible to sign, to end the division, to restore national unity and to attend to national causes."
Haniyeh told the pan-Arab al-Arabiya television station that Hamas had asked Egypt to amend some of the reconciliation pact's proposals, but declined to give further details."
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