CAIRO: Egyptian-brokered talks aimed at reconciling feuding Palestinian factions have been delayed, state news agency MENA quoted a senior Egyptian official as saying on Wednesday. Palestinian reconciliation talks scheduled for Feb. 22 have been delayed for a short period because more discussions are needed, the unnamed official said. The talks are part of an Egyptian-proposed plan to end Israel s massive three-week offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December and January that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians. Its initiative called for an immediate Gaza ceasefire, followed by meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials to secure a long-term ceasefire, and the reconciliation talks. A long-running feud between Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas s Fatah faction exploded in June 2007 when the Islamist faction seized control of the Gaza Strip after more than a week of deadly street battles. Hamas beat Fatah in parliamentary elections in January 2006 but its government was boycotted by Israel and much of the international community because the Islamists would not recognize Israel or renounce violence. Egypt last tried to reconcile Palestinian factions in November, with the aim of forming a government of national unity acceptable to the international community. But the Islamists withdrew from those talks at the last minute, saying Fatah forces were continuing to arrest Hamas members in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Egypt s efforts to secure a lasting truce between Israel and Hamas suffered another setback on Wednesday after Israel s security cabinet voted to make any truce conditional on the release of a captive soldier. The 12-member security cabinet voted unanimously to back outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert s insistence that Gilad Shalit should be released as part of a truce with Hamas. Hamas rejected the cabinet s decision and stuck to its position that Shalit s release be negotiated separately as part of a prisoner exchange involving hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Shalit was seized by Gaza fighters in a deadly cross-border raid in June 2006. Hamas has said any truce must include the opening of Gaza s border crossings, which Israel has closed to all but humanitarian aid since the Islamist movement seized power.
