Meeting fails to solve Palestinian unity plans

A meeting in Cairo between representatives of Hamas and Fatah did not bring a Palestinian national unity government any closer.

Khaled Mashaal, chief of Hamas, and senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed concluded a meeting Wednesday night that “produced nothing new,” the French news agency AFP reported, citing an anonymous Palestinian official.

Egyptian officials also attended Wednesday’s meeting, which comes nearly three months after the two sides reached agreement in Doha to form an interim government headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The two sides have argued over who will serve in the new government. Presidential and legislative elections were supposed to be scheduled within a year.