A Palestinian official says a recent meeting between the major factions of Hamas and Fatah in Egypt ended inconclusively.
 
Hamas Political Bureau chief Khaled Meshaal and his deputy Moussa Abu Marzouq met with senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on Wednesday night.
 
The two sides discussed for about two hours the “possibility of advancing the reconciliation process, in particular a government of national unity,” said the Palestinian official, whose name was not mentioned in the news reports.
 
“But the meeting produced nothing new.”

Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation deal on May 4, 2011, which provides for the creation of a joint caretaker Palestinian government before national elections expected to be held later in 2012.
 
On February 5, Khaled Meshaal and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas, who also serves as the acting Palestinian Authority chief, discussed the formation of a Palestinian unity government during a meeting in the Qatari capital, Doha. Palestinian officials said Hamas agreed to a Qatari proposal that recommended Abbas as the prime minister of the future unity government.
 
On Wednesday, Ahmed “stressed the importance of allowing the electoral commission to resume operations within the (Hamas-controlled) Gaza Strip” in order for Abbas to be able to “set in motion the procedures to form a government, and fix a date for the elections,” the official said.
 
Hamas officials said during the Wednesday meeting, which was also attended by a group of Egyptian officials, that it was possible to “resolve the question of the electoral commission through consultations with (Abbas) over the formation of the government he will head under the terms of the Doha declaration.”
 
Representatives from the two major Palestinian factions have met several times in recent months to agree on a final line-up for the unity government and its leadership.
 
(Press TV)