CAIRO, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian political factions met in Cairo on Tuesday to push ahead with reconciliation efforts and discuss the implementation of the former deals on the formation of a unity government.
Thirteen representatives of political parties arrived in Cairo on Monday ahead of three-day talks, state-run Ahram newspaper reported on its website.
Palestinian rival movements Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement in Cairo on October 12 to end their long-time rift and enable the consensus government under Fatah to have full control of Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
The two movements agreed on a complete Gaza handover to Fatah by December 1.
"All the Palestinian factions with no exception participate in the current meetings to be partners in implementing all the items of ending the divisions" said Azzam al-Ahmad, Fatah Central Committee member and head of the movement's delegation in Cairo talks.
The meetings meant to agree on the mechanism of implementation of what has been agreed before and not holding new talks or agreeing on new steps, Ahmad told Xinhua.
"We hope that the ongoing round of meetings will be a strong push for walking forward on the path of ending the divisions," he said.
Egypt has been hosting several inter-Palestinian reconciliation meetings between Fatah, Hamas and other factions since the time of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
As part of the October deal, all the parties are expected to discuss several issues including forming a unity government and holding elections.
"When we finish the issue of empowering the government, we will move to a new step of elections, but it's impossible to tackle all the aspects in one session," he explained.
The crossings either with Egypt or Israel were main bases for empowering the national government to practice its authority completely, said Ahmad, noting that there are intensive joint Egyptian-Palestinian efforts to enforce the working of Gaza Strip on regular bases, and not just for humanitarian purposes.
However, regarding the process of working on the other two crossings on the borders with Israel, Ahmad said "its proceeding slowly."
The division between Palestinian factions has been one of the largest obstacles to negotiations peace talks with the Israelis.
The October accord is supposed to see Fatah retake full control of Gaza and to build pillars of trust between the Palestinian main political rivals.
Hamas handed over Gaza's border crossings on November 1.
Control of a number of government ministries has also been transferred. However, the progress has recently stalled.
"There are some people who are putting obstacles on the path of revival of peace negotiations, and that is why the recurrent meetings will melt the ice and will find a ground for agreement," Ahmad added.
"We should meet from time to time to evaluate the problems and erase any obstacles," he added.
The United Nations has said the reconciliation efforts must be continued or another round of conflict with Israel could break out.
