Palestinian unity talks to resume April 1: Fatah

GAZA (Reuters) - Negotiations among Palestinian groups on a possible unity government will resume in Egypt on April 1, senior officials from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement said on Tuesday.

Talks in Cairo between secular Fatah, which holds sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and the rival Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, adjourned on March 19 without agreement on how to share power or engage Israel.

"We are exerting every possible effort ... in order to reach an agreement," Ahmed Qurie, head of the Fatah delegation to the talks, told Reuters.

Abbas has proposed a unity government that would prepare for new Palestinian elections and oversee the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip after Israel's recent military offensive.

But big differences remain, including over Fatah's demand that Hamas agree to abide by interim peace agreements signed with Israel.

Hamas, which won a Palestinian election in 2006 and seized control of the Gaza Strip 18 months later, has refused to make such a commitment.

"The issues under discussion are difficult," a Fatah negotiator said.

Hamas officials in Gaza said Cairo had not yet invited them for a new round of talks.

Hamas official Ayman Taha said the Islamist group was determined to ensure the talks succeeded, but rejected Fatah demands that the Islamist group abide by existing peace agreements with Israel.

"Abiding by peace agreements means the recognition of Israel and that is completely rejected," Taha said.

(Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald in Gaza, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Ivan Karakashian in Jerusalem; Writing by Dan Williams and Adam Entous; Editing by Jonathan Wright)

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