A Fatah official on Wednesday said the upcoming round of inter-Palestinian dialogue in Cairo would be the last chance for the rivals to reconcile.

Nabil Shaath, a member of President Mahmoud Abbas's party delegation to the national dialogue, called on Egypt to "expose the party that blocks reaching an agreement" if the final round, due to start on July 25, failed.

On Tuesday, Islamic Hamas movement and Fatah announced that the sixth round of dialogue ended without reaching an agreement. Egypt wanted this session to be the last one and was intended to declare the agreement on July 7.

The seventh round later this month is expected to be the final round of talks Hamas and Fatah have been pursuing since February, hoping to reconcile and restore political unity to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Fatah-ruled West Bank.

Internal schism widen in June 2007 when Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and seized control of the Gaza Strip.

In the latest session of the talks, Shaath said the two movements failed to agree on releasing political hostages they had been holding, including Hamas supporters in the West Bank and Fatah followers in Gaza.

"We talked intensively about the political detainees but we failed to reach a common understanding to free them," Shaath said.

(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2009)