Four Palestinian factions held a meeting in Gaza City on Monday night and agreed to form a committee to investigate a gun battle in the West Bank which killedsix Palestinians, an official said.

Talal Abu Zarifa, a senior official of the Democratic Front to Liberate Palestine (DFLP), told Xinhua that the factions agreed to form the committee "that investigates the sorrowful incident that occurred in the West Bank on Sunday."

Hamas, the DFLP, the Popular Front to Liberate Palestine (PFLP)and the Islamic Jihad held the meeting on Monday in Gaza to study the possibilities of saving the inter-dialogue sponsored by Egypt after Hamas said it considers suspension of its participation.

"The committee will investigate the incident and will come up with the results and show it to the public opinion and sue those who were in charge of the clashes," said Abu Zarifa.

He called on both Fatah and Hamas movements for restraint and to stop the mutual crackdown on each others.

He said Hamas has not yet decided whether it will join the inter-dialogue, adding that "we urged the movement not to take any decision that harms the reconciliations efforts to end the current political rift."

Kayed el-Ghoul, a senior Popular Front to Liberate Palestine (PFLP) leader in Gaza, told reporters earlier in the day that Hamas called an urgent meeting with the three Gaza factions -- the PFLP, the Islamic Jihad and the 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 said at the beginning ofthe 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.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2009)