Where Now For Palestinian Unity?

Although inter-faction fighting has ebbed, political reconciliation remains elusive
[GALLO/GETTY]

From Aj Jazeera:

The emnity between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah seems yet further entrenched, after Cairo-brokered reconciliation talks between the two groups broke down before they had even officially begun.

The Palestinian national dialogue, due to be held on Monday in the Egyptian capital, was to have been attended by all the major Palestinian political factions.

The main aim was to find some way of bridging the acrimonious divide between Hamas and Fatah following the bloody infighting that lead to Hamas seizing control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 - pushing out security forces loyal to Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and the head of Fatah.

Tellingly, when the news first broke on Saturday that the talks were off, there was confusion about why they had collapsed and who was responsible.

News agencies reported that Hamas was boycotting the event.

Not long after, Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official denied they had withdrawn from the talks, saying the Egyptian authorities had postponed the conference because "there was a bad atmosphere between the two sides that would have most likely led to the failure of the talks".

Fatah blamed Hamas for the talks falling through, with Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for Abbas, saying they had also lost "the opportunity to regain Palestinian unity".

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