Hamas and Fatah start talks on reconciliation 
ahead of Gaza peace bid

Egyptian security officials said the talks were being held behind closed doors at the Egyptian intelligence headquarters in Cairo.

Blame-trading between the rivals has become more frequent since the end of the Gaza war, a sign that an agreement on running the territory is not within reach.

In the spring, western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas worked out a tentative agreement with Hamas under which he would head a temporary unity government of experts in both the West Bank and Gaza until elections could be held.

However, major issues were left unresolved under that deal, including the fate of 40,000 government employees hired by Hamas in the Gaza Strip as well as control over Gaza’s Hamas-dominated security forces.

Hamas was mired in a severe financial crisis when it struck the deal, but has become emboldened since the end of the summer war because fighting Israel boosted its popularity among Palestinians.

“Fatah believes that Hamas emerged weaker from the war,” said Hussam Badran, a spokesman for top Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. “On the contrary, Hamas came out stronger.”

Mr Abbas, in turn, refuses to make concessions to Hamas and insists on sweeping powers in Gaza, said an aide, Azzam al-Ahmed.

Failure to establish an Abbas-led government in Gaza will harm the territory’s post-war reconstruction efforts. Egypt is hosting a pledging conference for Gaza on October 12, but donor countries will likely hold back if Hamas –shunned by the West as a terror group – refuses to step aside.

The Hamas and Fatah rivalry boiled over in 2007, when Hamas militants seized power in Gaza, leading to bitter fighting between the two factions.

Egypt, which played a key role in brokering the truce that ended the Gaza war, is to host a brief round of indirect talks in Cairo this week between an Israeli and a Palestinian delegation.