By Saud Abu Ramadan, Emad Drimly
RAMALLAH, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of rival Fatah and Hamas movements said on Wednesday they have received a written Egyptian proposal aimed at ending the inter-Palestinian rift and reaching a national reconciliation.
Nabil Abu Rdineh, spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Palestinian official news agency Wafa that the Palestinian leadership will give Egypt its response to the proposal within the coming two days.
"President Mahmoud Abbas highly appreciates the Egyptian efforts to sponsor the dialogue and bring about a national reconciliation that will end the internal split," said Abu Rdineh.
President Abbas and Hamas political Chief Khaled Meshaal held talks with Egyptian leaders respectively Saturday in Cairo. Abbas held talks with President Hosni Mubarak, while Meshaal held talks with intelligence chief Omer Suleiman and Arab League chief Amr Moussa.
Both talked with Egyptians about the resumption of the inter-dialogue after the end of Ramadan, while Meshaal expected that the dialogue would be resumed in Cairo in early October.
Egypt has been sponsoring the Palestinian dialogue, mainly the dialogue between Fatah and Hamas movements. Seven rounds of dialogue had already been held in Cairo since March, but there has been no breakthrough due to differences on substantial issues related to security, the unity government and the elections.
Local newspaper reported Wednesday that Egypt has presented to the Palestinian factions a written document that includes its vision on reaching a reconciliation agreement in Cairo during the upcoming round of dialogue.
Senior Palestinian officials said that Egypt has presented its vision as a written document, which includes several proposals related to achieving inter-Palestinian reconciliation between the two rival Palestinian groups.
Meanwhile, Hamas representative in Lebanon Osama Hamdan announced that his movement has also received the Egyptian document and will study it and give its response soon.
Hamdan told a pro-Hamas news website "we appreciate the Egyptian paper and the exertive efforts made by our Egyptian brothers. We hope that it will be positively responded by Fatah party and President Mahmoud Abbas."
The Palestinian rift began right after Hamas militants seized control of the Gaza Strip by force and routed President Abbas' security forces. All Palestinian and Arab efforts to achieve a reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah have by far failed.
The major issues that the rival groups have argued about are the electoral system and whether the general elections would be held on Jan. 25 next year or to be postponed, while security issues, the platform of the unity government and reforming the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) are also among the issues.
"The Egyptian proposal aims at bridging the gaps between the two groups and bringing about a reconciliation agreement in Cairo in October," said a report of the London-based Saudi Arabian daily Al-Hayat, which quoted senior Egyptian sources as saying.
The sources said that a high-ranking Egyptian security delegation would start marathon trips to Ramallah and Damascus on Thursday to discuss the Egyptian proposal and bridge the gaps between Fatah and Hamas.
"The delegation would arrive in Ramallah first and then will head to Damascus before Egypt starts delivering invitations to the factions' leaders including Fatah and Hamas to join the upcoming round of comprehensive dialogue," said the sources.
The sources told the daily that the Egyptian security delegation "would carry out a visit to explore the views and visions of the two sides and collect their responses to the Egyptian proposal." The sources declined to reveal the details of the proposal.
Meanwhile, Israeli Daily Jerusalem Post quoted sources close to Hamas as saying that Hamas and Fatah leaders will take steps to end their conflict in the Middle East by the end of the year.
The unidentified sources told the Israeli daily that Hamas leader Mashaal and Fatah leaders are expected to sign a reconciliation accord by early 2010, potentially ending the long-standing rift between the two parties.
A senior delegation of Fatah party will visit the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for the first time since 2007 to help pushing forward national reconciliation dialogue, which include members of the newly-elected central committee, the highest decision-making body of Fatah, said a central committee member in a statement.
