Palestinian factions meet to discuss unity gov't

Representatives of 13 Palestinian factions including Hamas and Fatah met in Cairo yesterday to discuss a potential national unity government.

According to the heads of the Hamas and Fatah delegations, Ahmed Qureia and Mussa Abu Marzuk, the parties agreed in principle that a Palestinian unity government would serve until December and deal with presidential and parliamentary elections.

It was also agreed that five joint committees would meet starting March 10 for a 10-day intensive negotiation of the issues still in dispute between Hamas and Fatah. Qureia said at a press conference that there would be further discussions on the actual composition of the national unity government.

According to Abu Marzuk, Egypt continues to work to resolve the issue of Gaza border crossings into Israel and the Rafah crossing. He added that the Palestinian security forces would be reorganized to serve the Palestinian people and not any one movement.

Earlier, Hamas' Mahmoud Al-Zahar and Fatah's Azaam Al-Ahmed organizations agreed on an immediate cessation of mutual incitement and political arrests in both Gaza and the West Bank. However, various Palestinian pundits argued that the committees could still delay the agreement.