CAIRO, April 9 (RIA Novosti) - The fourth round of
inter-Palestinian dialogue will begin on April 26 in Cairo,
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced after talks with
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Thursday.
The conflict between Hamas and Fatah, the largest
Palestinian political movements, erupted in June 2007, when
Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip by force. Hamas has since
held power in the enclave of 1.5 million, independent of the
officially recognized government of Fatah in the West Bank,
which is headed by Abbas.
"A new round of dialogue will begin on April 26," Abbas
said. "The main issues of reconciliation will be discussed: the
creation of a national government unity, elections, and the
reformation of security forces."
Abbas refused to sum up the previous round of talks, which
ended on April 2 without any results, only saying that "We
don't have any other route except through continuing dialogue."
Egypt plays the role of mediator between the two
Palestinian factors, which until recently had no direct
dialogue. They restarted reconciliation talks after Israel's
assault on Gaza at the turn of the year, which saw some 1,300
Palestinians killed and 5,000 injured.
Abbas visited Moscow this week, meeting President Dmitry
Medvedev on Monday and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Tuesday
to discuss Middle East issues. He reiterated that he believed
Russia had to play a role in the settlement of
Israeli-Palestinian issues.
Russia, along with the United Nations, the United States
and the European Union, comprises the Middle East Quartet,
which is the focus of international efforts to find a
resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem.
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