During the last round of dialogue held in Cairo, the major disagreements between rival Fatah and Hamas negotiators were focused on the joint security force in Gaza and the joint factional committee.

A senior Fatah security official said in a statement on Tuesday that Hamas accepted the idea of forming a joint security force in the Gaza Strip, but said it should include only 300 officers, 150 from Hamas and 150 from Fatah.

Brig. Majid Faraj, chief of Palestinian intelligence, who attended the three-day dialogue held in Cairo on Saturday said that Fatah rejected the idea and demanded to include all its security and police officers who left their positions.

Two years ago, and following bloody armed fighting between the two groups' militants, Hamas took control of Gaza Strip by force and routed west-supported President Mahmoud Abbas security forces.

In return, Abbas ordered all his security officers who remained in Gaza as well as those who fled to stay home and not to join any security or police force under Hamas rule in Gaza Strip.

Faraj said that Hamas rejected Fatah demand to bring back all security and police forces, who quit their positions after Hamas takeover of Gaza Strip. Hamas said the mission of the 300-men force is only to operate Gaza crossings.

"In case a deal on forming the join security force fails, Fatah would ask the 50,000 security and police officers to get back to their positions," said Faraj, denying that this is a threat or a call for renewal of fighting.

Israel closed down all its crossings with Gaza Strip after Hamas controlled the enclave, while Egypt closed down Rafah border crossing after Abbas security officers and European Union inspectors left the crossing.

However, over the past two years, Israel and Egypt had frequently and partially reopened the crossings with Gaza Strip for humanitarian reasons to allow food, medicine and fuels for the population.

The two movements' delegations ended the three-day round of dialogue and agreed to resume it in early July after consultations with their political leadership. They failed during the sessions to reach a reconciliation deal.

In addition to differences related to forming a unity government, agreeing on the system of the upcoming general elections, they also disagreed on forming the joint security force for Gaza Strip.

Faraj said the second issue both had failed to agree upon was the joint factional committee that is scheduled to work the government in Ramallah to reconstruct Gaza Strip and end the political rift.

"I was shocked by Hamas stance. Hamas accepted to form the committee that will include representatives of 16 factions, but wants the committee to coordinate with its government in Gaza," said Faraj.

He added that Fatah believes there is only one Palestinian government based in Ramallah, and any other governments anywhere in the Palestinian territories "are not accepted."

Meanwhile, Egypt would soon call for members of the five different reconciliation, security, government, elections, and PLO committees to convene in Cairo soon, said senior Fatah leader Nabil Shaath.

"Every committee will list the items the negotiators agreed upon and the ones they disagreed upon before preparing to draft the final agreement that will be signed in Cairo in July," said Shaath.

The issue of elections is also one of the major outstanding issues, Hamas wants the elections' formula to be 60 percent proportional and 40 percent constituencies, while Fatah demands 85 percent proportional.

A senior Palestinian source said that the disputes are in three subjects: the elections' formula, the joint security force and the joint transitional factional committee.

"Egypt really wants to see the parties ending their differences and reaching an agreement as soon as possible, where it wants also to end the current political and geographical rift between Gaza and the West Bank," said the source.

Egypt's security chief Omar Suleiman had threatened Fatah and Hamas conferees that "whether they agreed or not, a reconciliation agreement will be signed and implemented in July."

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2009)