RAMALLAH-- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party agreed with Islamic Hamas movement to resume reconciliation dialogue by the end of December, a Fatah official said Monday.
The two movements will meet by the end of this month for more discussions of controversial issues between the two rivals, said Azzam Al-Ahmad, a member of the Fatah Central Committee.
Al-Ahmad said he hopes that this meeting would be the last one before "Hamas goes to Cairo to sign the Egyptian document," referring to an Egyptian-drafted plan to broker national Palestinian reconciliation last year which was rejected by Hamas.
Fatah received "confirmations" from Hamas leadership that the upcoming meeting "would be a meeting of agreement, instead of more discussions," Al-Ahmad said.
The reconciliation would end political split between Gaza and the Fatah-ruling West Bank, which started in June 2007, when Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and seized control of Gaza.
In September, the two movements met in Damascus and said they had reached initial agreements on elections and on reforming the Palestine Liberation Organization, but failed to agree on the security file.
There are "better indications" that the upcoming meeting would lead to a deal, Al-Ahmad said.
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