Rival Palestinian factions have so far failed to overcome obstacles in reconciliation talks which they hope will lead to a unity government, officials said on Friday. Fatah movement has insisted during Egyptian-hosted talks taking place in Cairo that Hamas must "abide" by existing peace agreements signed with Israel but Hamas has refused to make such a commitment.
The Fatah-Hamas dispute was one of the points that prompted intervention of Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman who met leaders of the two groups late on Thursday to try to narrow the gaps, officials said, according to Reuters. "It remained a point of disagreement," said Fatah's delegate to the talks, Ashraf Goma.
Abbas, talking to reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, admitted that negotiations "had encountered difficulties." "It requires effort and genuine will in order to reach national reconciliation. We don't want to talk about obstacles, we hope the talks will succeed," Abbas conveyed.
Hamas delegate Fawzi Barhoum told Reuters from Cairo that differences remained. "We have not yet agreed to the agenda of the new government and there are obstacles that needed to be removed to reach a balanced formula," he said.
