Diplomats: U.S. backs Fatah-Hamas reconciliation talks

The United States has offered encouragement to Egypt in its efforts to mediate reconciliation talks between rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah, diplomats have said.

But U.S. President Barack Obama's administration and the European Union, which has also backed the talks, have made clear that Western support was conditional on what, if any, unity agreement emerges from upcoming negotiations in Cairo.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that a new round of negotiations between the groups will take place on Wednesday.

Ending divisions between Islamist Hamas and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah is seen as key to lifting an Israeli-led blockade on Gaza, imposed in response to rocket attacks by militants in the coastal strip.

The report of U.S. support for the talks came after George Mitchell, the Obama administration's special envoy to the region, said Thursday that Washington wished to see the formation of a Hamas-Fatah Palestinian unity government.

He said the efforts to reconcile the factions were important, and labeled the schism as an obstacle to the peace process. Mitchell made the comments at a meeting with the heads of several U.S. Jewish groups.

The reconciliation talks were meant to have begun in Egypt on Sunday, but were postponed last week with Hamas blaming Israel's refusal to agree to a new Gaza truce after its January offensive in the territory to counter cross-border rocket fire.

Hamas drove Fatah out of Gaza in June 2007 after a power struggle that turned violent, leaving Abbas with a truncated mandate in the West Bank.

Fatah has mounted roundups of West Bank Hamas activists. Hamas wants them released as part of the rapprochement efforts.

"In order for the dialogue to succeed, serious work must be exerted to release all political prisoners from the Palestinian Authority jails in the West Bank," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, who also confirmed the Feb. 25 date for the talks.

A Fatah official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the group could order an amnesty for some Hamas prisoners.

"Under an understanding with Hamas, there will be releases of many Hamas detainees," the Fatah official told Reuters.

Abbas, which dissolved a government alliance with Hamas after its Gaza takeover, has called for a new union - but on condition the Islamists submit to his authority.

Any unity government including Hamas ministers would have to meet three Western conditions to renounce violence, recognize Israel and abide by interim peace accords, U.S. officials said.

A government made up of non-partisan technocrats could have more room to maneuver if it adopted a platform accommodating a two-state solution with Israel, U.S. and EU officials said.

Neither outcome appears to be agreeable to Hamas, whose leaders have said they will not accept a technocratic government, let alone one that embraces the three Western conditions, which they reject.

Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, discouraged Palestinian reconciliation efforts.