"The meeting began at about 20:45 local time (18:45 GMT), in an effort to seek a unified stance on how to deal with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," he said.

"At 14:00 local time (12:00 GMT), delegates from the factions had a preparatory meeting to arrange the formal talks," he said.

"Before the talks began, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had phone contacts with the groups to urge them to make the talks a success at a time when the Palestinians are facing difficulties," he added.

It was learnt that the participants are expected to discuss an Egyptian proposal on freezing Palestinian attacks on the Israelis for one year to help restart peace talks between the two sides.

However, some Palestinian groups have refused to stop such attacks, given what they call Israel's continued aggressions against the Palestinians.

Earlier in the day, Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigade, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), claimed responsibility for killing three Israeli soldiers in an ambush south of the West Bank city of Hebron Thursday night.

"This attack is a clear response to crimes that are carried out round the clock against our innocent and defenseless people in the West Bank and Gaza," the group said in a leaflet distributed in the West Bank.

Along with Hamas, 12 Palestinian factions, including the IslamicJihad (Holy War), the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, were all represented at the dialogue.

Speaking to Xinhua on Thursday in Cairo, Palestine's No. 2 leader Mahmoud Abbas warned that any political mistakes should be avoided in the path toward restoring the Palestinians' legitimate rights.

Such mistakes "would be used by Israel's right wing to influence the world public opinion," said Abbas, who is secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen, arrived here Tuesday afternoon for the Cairo talks as head of a delegation of the Palestinian mainstream Fatah movement.

On the prospects of agreeing to end attacks on the Israelis, Abbas said: "That depends on how Israel acts. The Israeli side should stop its aggression against the Palestinians first."

"On one hand, the Palestinians desire peace. And on the other, they will never give up their rights to resist against the long-standing occupation and retake their own lands," he said.

The coming Cairo talks have been overshadowed by earlier remarks by Hamas and Jihad that they would quit the dialogue if some other Palestinian groups were excluded from the conference.

On Tuesday, Hamas accused Egypt of failing to invite all the factions to attend the gathering, and decided not to participate inthe meeting.

Jihad had also said it would not participate in the dialogue unless all 13 Palestinian groups and factions would be in Cairo.

However, the two groups said later that they would attend the talks as scheduled.

The dialogue comes four days ahead of Israel's general elections, during which Israeli's hawkish Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is likely to be re-elected.

Meanwhile, some senior Palestinian officials have reportedly called for a halt to the Palestinian uprising to better serve Palestinian interests, while some Palestinian groups have insisted on armed resistance.

Hamas and Jihad are opposed to the Mideast peace process and efforts to revive it. Their armed wings have carried out deadly attacks on Israel since Palestinians and Israel signed the Oslo Accord in 1993.

(People?s Daily January 25, 2003)