leaders of rival Islamic Hamas movement and Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party on Sunday traded accusations over the delay of their inter-reconciliation dialogue till August 25.

Conferees from the two rival groups held two sessions of dialogue on Saturday and Sunday in Cairo aiming at bridging gaps of differences on substantial issues related to mutual political arrests, the unity government, security and electoral law.

Azzam el-Ahmed, Fatah movement chief negotiator in the dialogue with Hamas movement told Xinhua on telephone from Cairo that the two groups "had failed to reach a deal that ends the current rift between Gaza and the West Bank."

El-Ahmed's statements were made at the end of a second session of talks held in Cairo on Sunday between the rival groups. He said their dialogue "was stuck with obstacles and we failed to reach any results."

"The two sides agreed with the Egyptian mediators to postpone the dialogue till August 25," el-Ahmed said.

Well-informed Palestinian sources said that the reason behind the delay "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 in Cairo on August 25 in the frame of a comprehensive national dialogue."

It is not the first time that the dialogue between Fatah and Hamas is postponed. Seven rounds of dialogue held in Cairo and supervised by Egypt since March had failed to overcome differences between the two rivals.

Fahim al-Za'arir, Fatah spokesman in the West Bank held Hamas movement fully responsible "for the obstruction of the dialogue and for not reaching understandings to sign a comprehensive reconciliation agreement."

"Fatah delegation has expressed full and enough flexibility to succeed the dialogue and reach an agreement, but it seems that Hamas only has intention and plans to slow down the dialogue."

Hamas in Gaza has meanwhile warned on Sunday that the failure of the dialogue with Abbas' Fatah party was due to what its leaders said "the new conditions of Fatah that were presented during the last sessions."

Salah el-Bardawil, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza told reporters that Fatah delegation in Cairo "came with a new strategy that annulled all the previous agreements and what had been agreed upon in the previous rounds of talks."

"We were surprised when Azzam el-Ahmed said that Fatah doesn't only want to free its prisoners, but also wants to free all Gaza Strip population. He frankly said that Fatah is not interested in reaching an agreement, but more interested in freeing the population in the Gaza Strip," said al-Bardawil.

Meanwhile, el-Ahmed said he informed the Egyptians and Hamas delegation during the meetings that Fatah prefers to form a national unity government instead of the factional committee proposed by Egypt."

The chief of Fatah delegation in the inter-dialogue told the Ramallah-based al-Ayyam Daily on Sunday that his delegation asked to get back to the previous proposal on forming a government that abides by the commitments of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Egypt has presented a proposal to form a transitional joint factional committee to coordinate between Hamas government in Gazaand Ramallah government in the West Bank, and its mission will be "to prepare for holding the presidential and legislative elections on January 25."

However, Hamas movement, which supported the Egyptian proposal, rejected Fatah proposal and said "it only respects these commitments, but would never abide by it, mainly the issue related to the recognition of the state of Israel."

El-Ahmed told the daily that the Egyptian side listened carefully to the two sides' discussions, adding "another session was held on Sunday, which would decide whether a seventh round would be held on July 25 or it would be postponed."

Meanwhile, Hamas delegation informed the meeting in Cairo that it is not authorized to make any decision related to any of the outstanding issues "before getting back to the movement's leadership," according to the daily.

As'ad Abu Sharkh, a Palestinian academic at al-Azhar University in Gaza told Xinhua "It seems that both Fatah and Hamas are not interested to succeed the dialogue. Each is postponing the dialogue in order to win more time to serve its own interests."

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2009)