A Cairo meeting between Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal and an official of the rival Fatah movement made no headway on the formation of a Palestinian national unity government, an official said on Thursday.
Two hours of talks Wednesday night in the Egyptian capital produced ‘nothing new,’ the Palestinian official said.
Meshaal and his deputy Mussa Abu Marzuk discussed with senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed ‘the possibility of advancing the reconciliation process, in particular a government of national unity, but the meeting produced nothing new,’ the official said.
The meeting was a bid to follow up on an agreement reached in Doha on February 6 between Meshaal and Palestinian president and Fatah leader Mahmud Abbas on the formation of an interim government of independents.
Under the deal, Abbas was to serve as head of the interim government, ending a bitter dispute between the two sides over who would assume the post.
The government line-up was to have been announced shortly afterwards, but the deal was met with opposition from Gaza-based members of Hamas, as well as some officials in the Fatah-controlled West Bank, who say that Palestinian law prevents Abbas from serving as president and prime minister at the same time.