Top-level talks between Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal got underway at a Cairo hotel on Thursday in a bid to resolve issues blocking implementation of a unity deal. The two leaders were seen entering a room to begin talks in their first meeting since May, when they signed a surprise reconciliation deal aimed at ending years of bitter rivalry. Izzat al-Rishq, a Hamas leader from Damascus, said the talks “will start with a face-to-face meeting between Abbas and Meshaal which will last about two hours.”
The meeting would then be opened up to delegations from the two factions, he said late on Wednesday. On the agenda are key issues including the adoption of a unified Palestinian strategy, forming an interim government, reform of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and agreeing on a date for elections. Under terms of the May agreement they were to have worked on setting up interim government of technocrats to pave the way for presidential and parliamentary elections within a year.