Hamas, Fatah await Egypt response for renewed dialogue

Ramallah: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah Party and the Hamas movement are awaiting Egypt's response on a proposed session of internal dialogue between the two Palestinian rivals in Cairo, officials said Wednesday.

Azzam el-Ahmad, head of the Fatah delegation to the dialogue, told Xinhua that Fatah was waiting for Egypt's answer which could come at any moment.

He said the meeting between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo was decided after Fatah proposed to form a committee of five members to back and empower achieving a comprehensive Palestinian unity.

"The meeting will tackle the issue of ending the internal split and overcome all other differences that emerged in implementing the reconciliation agreements, mainly the question of the consensus government," said el-Ahmad.

Abbas's Fatah Party announced two weeks ago that it had decided to form a committee that would include five members of Fatah Central Committee "to finalise the dialogue, the reconciliation and unity with Hamas movement".

"I'm certain that these meetings will be successful," said el-Ahmad. "This dialogue has to be successful because the interests of our people and our cause are more important than the interests of any faction."

On April 23, Hamas and Fatah agreed in Gaza to implement all the deals and understandings of reconciliation that were reached in Cairo and Qatar.

In June, they managed to form the first consensus technocrat government in eight years.