Hamas in Palestinian unity talks in Cairo
Egypt attempts to broker peace between warring Palestinian factions in an attempt to end infighting
Senior Hamas officials met Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss an Egyptian proposal for a Palestinian unity government, the official MENA news agency reported.
Suleiman's talks with Hamas came after a string of meetings with a dozen Palestinian factions, including the Fatah party of president Mahmud Abbas, over the past two months to form a national unity government.
The Egyptian proposal includes a transitional government made up of ministers acceptable to all factions and a restructuring of Palestinian security forces with Arab oversight.
The proposal also provides for new parliamentary and presidential elections, after Hamas has said it will not recognise Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas after his mandate ends in January.
The head of Fatah's parliamentary bloc said on Tuesday that his movement supported a "transitional government of national consensus" but refused to form a national unity government with Hamas.
"Such a (unity) government can only be formed after presidential and parliamentary elections are held," Azzam al-Ahmed said, adding that Hamas had "every day put a new condition" in the way of dialogue.
Egypt has been acting as a mediator between Fatah and Hamas after the latter, which won a majority in parliamentary elections in 2006, seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, routing forces loyal to Fatah.
Egypt, which occasionally opens its Rafah border crossing with Gaza, hopes its proposal will ease the blockade of Gaza, which human rights groups say is undergoing a humanitarian crisis because of the blockade.
