Palestinian rivals agree in Cairo to carry on with reconciliation

Palestinian rivals, Islamic Hamas movement and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party agreed to carry on with reconciliation dialogue and remove all obstacles in its way, a senior official said on Monday.

Azzam el-Ahmad, head of Fatah delegation to the dialogue with Hamas told official Palestinian radio station "Voice of Palestine" Radio that the reconciliation dialogue is still going on in Cairo for the third day in a row, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said that the atmosphere "is positive and constructive," adding "we agreed to carry on with reconciliation dialogue and remove all the obstacles that prevent finalising it."

Meanwhile, a senior Egyptian security intelligence official arrived in the Gaza Strip on Monday to pack an Egyptian delegation who has been in Gaza for more than a week to observe the implementation of reconciliation agreements.

A senior security source speaking on condition of anonymity said the senior Egyptian security intelligence official Gen.

Sameh Kamal arrived in Gaza to push reconciliation forward and follow up power transfer to the Palestinian government.

According to a reconciliation agreement reached between Hamas and Fatah, and brokered by Egypt, handing over power from Hamas to the Palestinian government was supposed to be finalised on December 1.

However, upon the request of both Fatah and Hamas, the Egyptians accepted to postpone power transfer from December 1 to December 10 to have some more time for overcoming obstacles.

--IANS

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