2012 Fatah–Hamas Cairo Agreement 2012 Fatah–Hamas Cairo Agreement The Fatah–Hamas 2012 Cairo Agreement was a reconciliation accord between the ruling Palestinian National Authority Fatah, and the fundamentalist organization Hamas, which currently rules over the Gaza Strip. Signed in May 2012 by Fatah's President Mahmoud Abbas, and Hamas' leader Khaled Mashal, the objective of the agreement was the formation of an interim government in preparation for the elections for a new Palestinian government. However, the agreement soon fell apart, and steps of major reconciliation were not made until January 2013. The Israeli and Palestinian conflict began in 1948 when the state of Israel was established.
President of the State of Palestine Since then, both functions (President of the SoP and of the PA) were simultaneously performed by a single person. In 2012, the United Nations recognized the "State of Palestine" as non-member observer state, but this did not abolish the function of President of the Palestinian Authority, as this originated from the Oslo Accords. Unlike the President of the Palestinian Authority, the position of President of the State of Palestine is not validated by democratic elections, but rather by the PLO Central Council. In 1989, the PLO Central Council elected Arafat the first President of the State of Palestine. At the