A senior Palestinian official said on Monday that the Islamic Hamas movement convened three Palestinian factions in Gaza to discuss the fate of the Egyptian-sponsored internal Palestinian reconciliation dialogue.

Kayed el-Ghoul, a senior Popular Front to Liberate Palestine (PFLP) leader in Gaza, told reporters that Hamas called an urgent meeting with three Gaza factions, including the PFLP, the Islamic Jihad and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

"The aim of the meeting is to surround the latest incident, which occurred in the West Bank city of Qalqilya, and to rescue the inter-Palestinian dialogue," Al-Ghoul told reporters at the beginning of the meeting held in Gaza City.

On Sunday, two Hamas militants, three security officers of President Mahmoud Abbas' security forces and one civilian were killed in armed clashes that lasted for nine hours in the city.

Following the Qalqilya shootout, Hamas threatened to suspend its participation in the inter-reconciliation dialogue, which is due to be resumed soon. A final Palestinian reconciliation agreement is expected to be signed on July 7.

Earlier on Monday, a senior Palestinian source unveiled that Hamas appealed for the urgent meeting.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hamas summoned the meeting in Gaza to discuss what happened in Qalqilya and the movement's intention to suspend its participation in the Cairo dialogue.

Meanwhile, Ayman Taha, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, told Xinhua by telephone that "we are still studying the options of response (to the Qalqilya) and among these options is to suspend our participation in the dialogue."

He disclosed that Hamas has also briefed Egypt, the sponsor of the dialogue, of its option to withdraw from the inter-dialogue, "but Egypt promised that it will deal with what has happened."

Taha said his movement has not yet reached a final decision related to the dialogue, adding that "the coming few hours will show what will be decided."

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2009)