A senior Palestinian official announced on Sunday that rivals Fatah and Islamic Hamas movements decided to postpone the inter-reconciliation dialogue until August25.

Azzam el-Ahmed, chief negotiator of Fatah movement, told Xinhua that the dialogue between the two groups had failed to reach a deal that ends the current rift between them.

These statements were made at the end of a second session of talks held in Cairo on Saturday between leaders from both rival groups. El-Ahmed said their dialogue "was stuck with obstacles and we didn't reach results."

"The two sides agreed with the Egyptian mediators to postpone the dialogue until August 25," el-Ahmed said, adding that "the postponement was agreed with the Egyptians."

Meanwhile, well-informed Palestinian sources said that the reason behind postponing the dialogue "was due to the large gaps in the positions of the two sides, mainly the issue of the mutual political arrests in Gaza and West Bank."

The sources said that all the Palestinian factions "will join the upcoming session of the dialogue agreed to be held on August 25 in the frame of a comprehensive national dialogue."

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2009)