Hamas and Fatah have opened talks in the Egyptian capital of Cairo with the objective of implementing the reconciliation agreement that they had reached in May.

A Fatah official explained that the talks on Sunday, chaired by the Egyptian intelligence officials, focus on “mechanisms of implementing the reconciliation deal” as well as the formation of a new government, AFP reported.

This formation, as well as who would be running the new government, has been one of the main obstacles delaying the deal between the two.

Fatah has so far insisted on caretaker Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Salam Feyadh to be the head of the new government.

While Hamas has declined Fatah’s choice, a Hamas spokesperson on Saturday expressed their willingness to “implement the agreement as soon as possible.”

The two sides signed a reconciliation pact in early May, ending their four-year long rift.

According to the pact, they must also organize elections by May 2012.

Hamas and Fatah have been at odds since Gaza-based Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006.

Following Hamas’s election victory, Fatah set up headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, thus limiting governance by Hamas to the Gaza Strip, a comparably smaller portion of Palestinian territories.

Moreover, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the Palestinian unity deal a “tremendous blow to peace.”

Israel has also criticized Fatah for holding talks with Hamas.

(Press TV)