Palestinian rivals Fatah and Islamic Hamas leaders failed to overcome their differences and reach an inter-reconciliation agreement in Cairo, reports coming from Cairo sources said Thursday.
The Qatari-based al-Jazeera Channel quoted senior sources as saying that the two movements failed to agree on the core issues, adding they agreed to resume their dialogue in Cairo after one month.
The four major outstanding issues that the two sides failed to agree upon are related to the political platform of the unity government, the security apparatuses, the system of the coming elections and reforming the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Meanwhile, senior Hamas leader and negotiator Izzat el-Resheq said in a statement sent to reporters that the talks, which started in Cairo on Wednesday "have not achieved any progress in all outstanding files."
Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan also said in a statement sent to reporters that the outstanding issues presented on the table of dialogue "need more time and more efforts in order to reach an agreement."
"We hope that we would be able to overcome all our differences and problems soon" said Radwan, adding that "The Egyptians are also doing tremendous efforts to bridge the gaps and succeed the dialogue."
He stressed that "in case an agreement is reached, it will be linked to releasing all Hamas political prisoners, in the Palestinian jails in the West Bank," adding "any agreement will be reached should be implemented as one package."
(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2009)
