RAFAH: Hamas officials arrived on Tuesday in Egypt from the Gaza Strip, on the eve of the resumption of Palestinian unity talks, an Egyptian border official said.
Egyptian-mediated reconciliation talks between the Islamist Hamas and the Western-backed Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas were adjourned on March 19 after they failed to agree on the shape of a unity government.
Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath has told AFP the talks are expected to resume in Cairo on Wednesday.
The 11-member Hamas delegation included senior official Khalil Al-Haya, the movement’s representative in a cross-faction committee tasked with agreeing a transitional government.
Shaath said remaining differences concern the makeup and the program of the government, the system by which elections will be held next year and the future makeup of the Palestinian security forces.
Fatah has been pushing for the formation of a government that would be accepted by the international community, which has boycotted previous unity governments that included Hamas.
Hamas, which won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006, has refused to recognize Israel, renounce violence, or accept past peace agreements – the three main conditions set by Israel and the West. -AFP
