Fatah-Hamas meeting in Gaza

Fatah and Hamas leaderships met today under the auspices of the visiting Egyptian security delegation in an attempt to contain the aggravating crisis between the two main Palestinian movements.

Top officials from the Palestinian National Liberation Movement of Fatah and the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement of Hamas met together with the Eygptian security delegation involving Major Generals Raafat Shehata and Mohamed Ibrahim. Fatah Spokesman Maher Maqdad said the meeting will mainly focus on internal affairs.

There have been many transgressions lately despite agreements and understandings reached by the two movements under Egypt's sponsorship, which in turn escalated the situation, he said.

Maqdad denied the meeting would in any way address the issues of the Palestinian national dialogue or the contentious issue of the referendum.

Meantime, Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zahri said the Hamas-Fatah meeting will focus on the domestic situation. "We must not trade accusations at a time we are trying to bring calm to the Palestinian street," he said.