A new round of national dialogue will be launched today, in Cairo, between rivals of Fatah and Hamas through a bilateral meeting to discuss common issues. Prior to the start of this round, remarks were raised about the pessimism from the leaderships of the two groups regarding the possibility of an agreement to end the Palestinian division. Palestinian sources said that the delegation of Fatah will be headed by the Chairman of the delegation, Ahmed Qurei, whilst Hamas will be headed by Musa Obomersouk, Vice-Chairman of the Political Bureau of the Movement, both of which will arrive in Cairo today in preparation for a new round of dialogue. The sources pointed out that the new round will be attended by Egyptian intelligence officials led by Minister Omar Suleiman, in an effort to find solutions to outstanding issues between the parties. The sources said that this round of dialogue is supposed to be in preparation for the arrival of the Secretaries-General of the Palestinian factions to Cairo on July 5, and the signing of the agreement to end the Palestinian division in the same month on July 7. In this context, the informed sources confirmed that in the event an agreement is reached, both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and the President of the Political Bureau of the Hamas Movement, Khaled Mashaal, will attend the agreement signing ceremony on July 7 with substantial Arab participation. The sources pointed out that things are moving towards the adoption of compromise formulas proposed by the Egyptians; specifically with regard to the electoral system, which stipulates that 75% of them be midterm and 25% constitutional. As for security, things are moving toward the adoption of a structure of a joint security force to be supported by Arabs for the restructuring and security-building in preparation for the elections, which are to be held on the twenty-fourth of January. With regards to the transitional phase until the elections, things seem to be moving towards the adoption of the Commission of factional groups of five: Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP and Democracy for the Liberation of Palestine, with the largest representation of the movements being in Fatah and Hamas and will be chaired by Abbas. For his part, the Parliamentary Head of Fatah Azzam Al-Ahmad ruled out the signing of a reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas on July 7. This was due to what he heard in a speech by Khaled Meshaal, in which he addressed a message to Egypt, which included - according to him - that "Hamas is not ready to sign." On the other hand, the Egyptian authorities on Saturday opened the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip on a temporary basis for three days, to allow some Palestinians to leave the sector, including students and patients who are in need of medical care. The border saw the accumulation of hundreds of Palestinians crossing: patients, humanitarian cases, visa holders and university students in difficult circumstances. Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called yesterday, while inspecting work at the crossing, to adopt a Palestinian-Egyptian-European mechanism for the opening of the crossing permanently.
