Palestinian Fatah-Hamas power-sharing talks break up again

Cairo: Talks between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah on a power-sharing government broke up on Thursday for a second time in a month without making any headway, Egyptian mediators said.

The negotiations came to a halt just a day after they began in Cairo.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the two sides asked for more time but would return to the Egyptian capital later in April. "There is no indication for any progress," Zaki said.

The previous round of talks broke down last month as the sides couldn't agree on two key sticking points: the new Palestinian government's program and to what extent Hamas would abide by past accords with Israel.

A failure of the Palestinians to reconcile will threaten deeper Arab divisions and set back efforts for a durable Israel-Hamas peace.

It will also frustrate Egypt, which bills itself as an Arab heavyweight and has been trying to mediate a reconciliation.

But Azzam Al Ahmed, a member of Fatah delegation in the talks, dismissed allegations of complete failure.

"The talks have reached a decisive period, where there is a need for both sides to return back to their leadership in order to come back with final positions to solve this conflict," he said.
Hamas' political leader Khaled Mashaal, who lives in exile in Syria and has vowed never to recognize Israel, said that "foreign conditions" that his group recognise the Jewish state had bogged down the talks in Egypt.

"Unfortunately, after speaking with them (Hamas officials) in Cairo ... the reconciliation process is still slow, burdened with foreign conditions," Mashaal told a Palestinian rally in the Syrian capital, Damascus, late Thursday.