Rival Palestinian delegations to stay in Yemen

By Mohammed Assadi

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Delegations from Hamas and Fatah will remain in Yemen an extra day for reconciliation talks despite disagreements between the rival factions, Palestinian officials said on Thursday.

Aides to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah initially said the negotiations had failed but members of the delegation said later they would stay another day at the request of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

"The Yemeni president has asked us to stay for one more day hoping to reach an agreement," said Saleh Rafat, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee.

When asked if he thought an agreement could be reached, Rafat said: "I don't think so."

Earlier in the day, Yemen's president brought Hamas and Fatah negotiators together for their first meeting since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in June, and Hamas officials spoke optimistically about prospects for an agreement.

The main point of contention appeared to be Fatah's demand, included in a Yemeni proposal, for Hamas Islamists to give up control of the Gaza Strip.

The Yemeni proposal calls for the situation in the Gaza Strip to return to the way it was before the Hamas takeover and for Palestinian elections to be held. These conditions have been endorsed by Abbas and so far rejected by Hamas.

The plan also envisages the creation of another unity government and rebuilding of Palestinian security forces along national rather than factional lines.

Fatah has said it would agree to direct reconciliation talks with Hamas only if Hamas first consented to relinquish its hold on the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians.

Hamas had voiced surprise at the earlier decision to bring the Fatah negotiators home.

"Hamas holds Fatah responsible for the failure of the meetings in Yemen," Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said in Gaza. "The withdrawal of Fatah's delegation contradicted what happened in Yemen so far."

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Sudam in Sanaa and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Writing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Editing by Robert Woodward)