A Palestinian official on Saturday said a final draft of national reconciliation deal would be available in July.

Egyptian mediators, who push for the Palestinian deal, will finalize the draft a few days before leaders of Palestinian factions meet in Cairo to sign the agreement on July 7, said Saleh Zidan, a Gaza-based leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).

Prior to this date, specialized committees would be meeting in Cairo to tackle differences between Hamas and Fatah and handle outstanding issues as Cairo insists that the agreement must be signed in the first ten days of July, Zidan added.

The Islamic Hamas movement and president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party have been locked in a standoff since Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

The key topics the dialogue deals with are the formation of a unity government comprising all factions, reforming security services in Gaza and the West Bank and holding elections in early 2010.

Zidan, who returned from a visit to Cairo, expects that factional committees will start meetings around June 20 to continue bridging gaps between Hamas and Fatah.

Hamas, which won the parliamentary elections in 2006, has voiced several reservations on the dialogue's topics and, for example, demanded that the reforming of the security services be also applicable to the Fatah-led forces in the West Bank.

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2009)