Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday he will order his Fatah movement to spare no effort to reconcile with the Islamic Hamas movement.
A delegation of Fatah headed for Cairo on Sunday and is scheduled to meet representatives of rival Hamas on Tuesday for a second round of talks aimed at striking a power-sharing deal.
"I will pass my instructions to the delegation to use all means to make the dialogue successful," Abbas told reporters in Ramallah of the West Bank, where he consolidated his rule after his forces lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in June 2007.
"It is important to reach the formation of a national unity government," Abbas said, stressing that the upcoming government must be committed to the policies of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and holding elections in January 2010 when the term of the Hamas-dominated parliament ends.
Hamas has said its participance in the upcoming government does not mean that the government recognizes Israel. It also criticized Abbas for asking the government to commit itself to the PLO's commitments that include recognizing the Jewish state.
Hamas has been controlling Gaza with its own administration since June 2007, while Abbas and his secular Fatah hold sway in the West Bank through a Western-backed government.
(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2009)