GAZA, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of Rival Fatah and Islamic Hamas movements said respectively on Saturday that they want to form a national unity government to rebuild the security forces and prepare for elections.
Egypt is mediating a comprehensive Palestinian dialogue scheduled to start in early November in Cairo under an Arab sponsorship. Egypt will prepare a document for all the factions to approve.
Musa Abu Marzooq, a senior Hamas leader, said "we hope that the coming round of inter Palestinian dialogue due to take place in Cairo this month would lead to constructive results that achieves national unity."
Egyptian security officials have held through September separate bilateral dialogue with leaders of each of the 12 Palestinian factions, including Fatah and Hamas. Bilateral talks between a Hamas delegation and Egypt is due to take place on Oct. 7.
"The scheduled meeting with the Egyptian side will tackle essence of Palestinian disputes, which are related to rebuilding the security apparatuses, forming a national unity government and preparing for the elections," he said.
One of the major disputes between the two rival movements is the presidential term of Mahmoud Abbas, which Hamas insists would end on Jan. 8, 2009.
Fatah said the presidential and legislative elections have to be held at the same time in January 2010. Both Fatah and Hamas fear for an institutional vacuum if the two sides can not reach anagreement on the issue.
The leaders of both Fatah and Hamas would focus in their dialogue in Cairo on ending the current political split, forming anational unity government and resolving the constitutional disputes on the presidential elections.
Hamas insists that a national unity government based on previous agreements has to be formed consisting of both Hamas and Fatah ministers, while Fatah and other factions seek to form a technocrat government.
Fatah leader Abdallah Abu Samhadana said the secular Palestinian faction wants "a new Palestinian government that reunites the West Bank and Gaza, end the current political split and end more than a year and a half of a blockade on Gaza."
Meanwhile, senior Fatah leader and chief of the Palestinian delegation to the dialogue in Cairo, Nabil Shaath revealed that the comprehensive dialogue would be launched in Cairo on Nov. 4.
Shaath told the Egyptian weekly "October" Magazine in an interview published on Saturday that his movement accepts the proposal to form with Hamas a national unity government which willbe recognized by the Arabs and the world.
"The mission of this government will focus on rebuilding of the Palestinian security apparatuses and preparation for presidential and legislative elections," said Shaath, without referring to forming a technocrat government.
On Saturday, deposed Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haneya said talks between Egyptian officials and Palestinian leaders were a "scout round," hoping it will lead to launching an inter-Palestinian dialogue.
"We hope our talks with the Egyptians would be deep and serious and that the scout round opens the door for a real Palestinian dialogue without foreign conditions," Haneya said in Gaza.
Haneya said Hamas officials in Cairo will "review the Palestinian situation in-depth to make use of the previous experiences so the dialogue will not come up with shallow results."
He was referring to earlier agreements between Hamas and Fatah,especially the Mecca accord in 2007 that stipulated the formation of a unity government.
Shaath expressed hope that the upcoming bilateral meeting between Hamas leaders and the Egyptians "would be positive and pave the road for a comprehensive national dialogue in early November."
If an agreement is agreed upon by all factions in November, it would be passed to the pan-Arab bloc Arab League for approval, he added.
Palestinian observers believe that if the parties fail to reach an agreement at the end of their dialogue, the Palestinians in theWest Bank and Gaza would see a serious internal political crisis ahead.
"If they fail to reach an agreement, Hamas would keep its control of the Gaza Strip, which will be totally isolated from theWest Bank, and the Palestinians in January will have two presidents and two governments," said Hasan el-Jamal, a Palestinian political analyst.
