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Egypt offers Palestinian rivals new unity ideas
GAZA - Egyptian mediators trying to break the deadlock in talks on a Palestinian government of national unity have told rival groups Fatah and Hamas to cooperate on reconstructing Gaza as a first step, officials said.Palestinian groups have been talking in Cairo for months but have so far failed to agree on a unity government ahead of elections set for January 2010. The proposal to cooperate on Gaza was an attempt to break the impasse, an official said. It became clear that a deal between the two sides was near impossible, a senior Palestinian official involved in the talks told Reuters.
Fatah welcomed the proposal as an introduction to a solution but Hamas said it would give legitimacy to Fayyads government, which the Islamist group has never accepted. Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath, an Abbas aide, said the Egyptian leadership gave Abbas a written proposal during his visit to Cairo this week and that he was expected to respond before a new round of talks is set to start on April 26. Both factions must provide Egypt with answers when they return for a new session of talks, said the official, who asked not to be named. Talks have failed so far because of disagreement over the political agenda for the proposed unity government and the way it will handle the conflict with Israel. Posted by: Steve White 2009-04-11 |
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