Rival Palestinian factions will suspend on Saturday low-level national dialogue as they failed to overcome obstacles in reconciliation talks held in Cairo, said Wasil Abu Youssef, secretary general of the Palestinian Liberation Front. Abu Youssef said the rival factions will end activities of five national dialogue committees which failed to bridge difference on how to form a unity government and conduct presidential and legislative elections, according to the Egyptian news agency MENA.
But parties made progress in talks over the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), reconciliation committees and security, he added.
President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement insisted during Egyptian-hosted talks taking place in Cairo that rival Islamist group Hamas must "abide" by existing peace agreements signed with Israel but Hamas refused to make such a commitment.
Hamas proposed using the word "respect" instead of "abide" but this falls short of satisfying the conditions set by United States, Israel and Western countries.
The agreements and commitments with Israel were signed by the PLO, now headed by Abbas.
Hamas, the Islamist movement which won a parliamentary election three years ago, has controlled the Gaza Strip since a brief, bloody fight against Fatah in 2007. Abbas's Palestinian Authority holds sway in the occupied West Bank.
Israel, the United States and Western countries refused to recognize Hamas's control of Gaza. Israel, which has imposed a blockade on the coastal territory, demanded an end to Hamas rule before it considers easing its restrictions.
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met Fatah and Hamas leaders late on Thursday to try to narrow differences, officials said. Abbas, talking to reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, said negotiations "had encountered difficulties."