Qatar talks fail to reconcile divisive Palestinian Fatah and Hamas

The reconciliation talks held in Qatar between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party and Hamas has failed to end Palestinian internal division, a spokesman for the Islamic movement said Saturday.

Sami Abu Zuhri said in an emailed press statement that Fatah movement "is the one who toppled the reconciliation talks held in Doha after its delegation withdrew from the second session of the dialogue."

"Fatah is responsible for the failure of the dialogue after it retreated from what had been agreed upon in previous sessions held in Qatar over the past few weeks," said Abu Zuhri from Gaza.

Over the past two days, two delegations, representing rival Hamas and Fatah, held two sessions of dialogue in Doha to end nine years of internal split that divided the Gaza Strip and the West Bank into two separate territories.

Abu Zuhri said the two major outstanding files that the two sides disagreed upon were the files of paying the salaries of Hamas employees in Gaza and reoperating the Palestinian National Authority Legislative Council.

"Fatah refused to be committed to the Palestinian national consensus and insisted that any new unity government to be formed in the future has to be committed to its political platform," he said. Endit