CAIRO: Egypt has proposed that Fatah and Hamas suspend efforts to form a unity government and instead coordinate their rival Palestinian administrations, a senior Palestinian official said on Tuesday.
Egypt s chief mediator Omar Suleiman proposed a new approach during the last talks that would include delaying seeking a government of national unity because of persistent divisions over its program, the official told AFP.
Instead, the rival factions would proceed to a coordination between the governments of Ramallah (in the West Bank) and Gaza through a committee including representatives from the Palestinian factions.
Reconciliation talks between Hamas and the Western-backed Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were suspended on Thursday for three weeks.
Shaath at the time said the talks were suspended because of new proposals which the factions wanted to discuss with their leaderships.
The talks were the third round of meetings between the long-time rivals since Hamas, winners of a 2006 parliamentary election, seized the Gaza Strip from Fatah after a week of fighting in June 2007.
Fatah retains control of the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and its government is recognized by the West and Israel – which boycott Hamas as a terrorist group.
The factions had agreed to form committees to try to resolve their differences and form a unity transitional government that would prepare for a general election early next year.
But the talks were adjourned after they failed to agree on a new government, with Hamas insisting it would not commit to previous agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.
Asked about Cairo s proposals, Taher Al-Nunu, a spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza said: We don t discuss any suggestions through the media.
But he added: Our discussion in Egypt was clear, it included the formation of a unity government.
The Egyptian proposals emerged as two of Abbas s envoys were in Gaza for talks with Hamas.
We are in Gaza today to meet with all factions and particularly Hamas with the aim of supporting national dialogue and a return to national unity, said Fatah central committee member Adullah Al-Franji.
Franji and Marwan Abdelhamid, who are both Abbas advisors, were scheduled to meet Hamas officials later in the day.
The meeting should remove hurdles ahead of a new round of talks in Cairo expected to be held between April 21 and April 26, said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum.
The stakes are high after a devastating 22-day war between Hamas and Israel in the impoverished Gaza enclave over the new year.
In March, countries pledged $4.5 billion in reconstruction aid to Gaza at a conference in Egypt. But many donors, backed by Abbas s government, have said they will not deal with the Hamas authorities in Gaza.
Hamas also controls the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the only one between Gaza and the outside world that bypasses Israel, where forces loyal to Fatah must be deployed for it to be allowed to open legally.
Suleiman suggested continuing talks on reunifying Palestinian institutions including the security forces, the senior Palestinian official said.
Pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat said the international community could deal with the Ramallah government, which would supervise the reconstruction of Gaza directly through the committee.
The Hamas government would have a role in supervising Gaza s reconstruction in an indirect way through this committee, the paper said.
