[15/March/2010]

Doha, March 15 (Saba) - The Doha Debates will stage Monday evening an encounter between warring Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, according to Qatar News Agency (QNA).

The event will take place at Qatar Foundation Headquarters at 7.30pm. Debates’ Chairman Tim Sebastian expressed the hope that the speakers would use the televised event to answer key questions from an Arab audience about their conflict and the huge numbers of casualties resulting from it.

Speaking on behalf of Fatah is Dr Nabil Shaath, one of the PLO’s chief negotiators who have been involved in peace talks for a number of years.

He served as the Palestinian Authority’s first foreign minister from April 2003 to February 2005 and previously was the Palestinian International Co-operation Minister and Planning Minister for the Palestinian National Authority.

He was also Acting Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority in 2005 for nine days. He is joined by Dr Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the political committee of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a senior Fatah spokesperson.

Representing Hamas is Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon and a member of the organization's Political Bureau. Previously he was Hamas’ official representative in Iran.

In 2004, he served as Hamas’ spokesman in Cairo during a dialogue between Palestinian factions. He has also participated in talks between Hamas and European officials. He will be joined by Mohammed Nazal, a senior Hamas leader in Damascus and spokesperson for the Political Bureau. He has worked for Hamas since 1989 and was appointed as its representative in Jordan in 1992.

In recent years he has been involved in inter-Palestinian dialogue on a ceasefire.

The debate will be broadcast by BBC World News on March 20 and March 21.

Saba