By Xinhua
Gaza : Egypt intends to invite various Palestinian factions for talks in Cairo and bridge the gap between rival groups of Hamas and Fatah, an Islamic Jihad leader said on Sunday.
“Egypt keeps on its efforts to reunite the Palestinians and seeks to host a comprehensive Palestinian dialogue about different internal issues,” said Khaled al-Batsh in Gaza. However, he ruled out that the dialogue may start in the comingdays. “The efforts may take several weeks until the atmosphere and the preparations are ready.”
Differences between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction and rival Hamas Islamists have been widened since last June as Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces in Gaza and took over the coastal strip by force.
In addition to achieving internal Palestinian reconciliation, Egypt works on three key tracks to settle a number of outstanding issues that involves Israeli measures against the Hamas-ruled Gaza, he said.
Nabil Shaath, Abbas’ representative in Cairo, told Voice of Palestine radio on Sunday that the main issues were Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire, reopening Rafah crossing point with Gaza and moving forward a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel. Revealing that the Egyptian efforts is making progress, Shaath said Israel was also a part in the three issues “and the problem was at the Israeli side.”
On Saturday, Shaath said Egypt’s efforts were being conductedupon an authorization from Abbas and support from the U.S. administration.