Palestinian rivals will start a new round of unity and reconciliation talks in Cairo Saturday in a bid to reach a deal on a unified government.
The fifth session of the national dialogue will last for three days and will involve the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement in the first phase.
"The issue of the government and the ways of tackling the security file are still outstanding points," said Nabil Shaath, a member of Fatah delegation to the talks.
As they failed to reach an agreement on a unity government during the previous rounds of the dialogue, the mediator Egypt proposed that a Palestinian committee to liaise between Hamas' administration of the Gaza Strip and the Abbas-backed government of the West Bank. "We will discuss the Egyptian proposal," Shaath said.
He also expected that the factions will accept another Egyptian offer about the electoral law since Hamas and Fatah agreed on holding the elections early next year but failed to agree on the representation system.
"It is based on a mixed system of 75 percent for quota and 25 percent for the electoral districts," Shaath said about the Egyptian proposal.
If notable progress is made in this round, the rest of the Palestinian factions will be invited to join the signature of the reconciliation deal.
The Palestinian schism widened in 2007 after Hamas, which won the elections a year before, routed pro-Abbas forces and seized control of the Gaza Strip, effectively cutting the political ties with the West Bank.
Source: Xinhua
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