Egypt Offers Palestinian Rivals New Unity Ideas

Palestinian groups have been talking in Cairo for months but have so far failed to agree on a unity government.

Egyptian mediators trying to break the deadlock in talks on a Palestinian government of national unity have told rival groups Fatah and Hamas to cooperate on reconstructing Gaza as a first step, officials said.

Palestinian groups have been talking in Cairo for months but have so far failed to agree on a unity government which would prepare for elections. The proposal to cooperate on Gaza was an attempt to break the impasse, an official said.

"It became clear that a deal between the two sides was near impossible," a senior Palestinian official involved in the talks told Reuters.

Palestinian elections are supposed to take place in January 2010, but a Hamas leader, Mohammed Nazzal, told a pro-Hamas website: "There will be no elections next year unless an agreement is reached in the dialogue."

The aim of the talks is to end almost two years of enmity between the groups, who fought a brief civil war that culminated in Hamas's seizure of the Gaza Strip in 2007.

Egypt's new plan is for a Fatah-Hamas committee answerable to the West Bank-based government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Western-backed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to oversee reconstruction work, while the Hamas administration in Gaza provides the headquarters and logistics.

NEW SESSION

Fatah welcomed the proposal as an introduction to a solution but Hamas said it would give legitimacy to Fayyad's government, which the Islamist group has never accepted.

Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath, an Abbas aide, said the Egyptian leadership gave Abbas a written proposal during his visit to Cairo this week and that he was expected to respond before a new round of talks is set to start on April 26.

"Both factions must provide Egypt with answers when they return for a new session of talks," said the official, who asked not to be named.

Talks have failed so far because of disagreement over the political agenda for the proposed unity government and the way it will handle the conflict with Israel.

Another sticking point has been Fatah's wish to limit restructuring of the security services to Hamas-run Gaza, excluding the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Hamas official Ayman Taha told Reuters his group would probably reject the Egyptian proposal of a joint committee.

"We want to return to dialogue on April 26 but Fatah will have to change its position. Without that I do not think the new round of talks will take us anywhere," Taha said.

An Arab diplomat said Cairo awaited an official response.

Shaath said the Egyptian proposal was a "tool" to eventually arrive at a unity government.

He said the joint committee would begin to implement whatever the groups agree in Cairo, including reconstruction of Gaza by an internationally accepted government headed by Fayyad.

Hamas insists implementation of any accord must proceed in parallel in Gaza and the West Bank.