No agreement yet between Fatah and Hamas
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-03-10 13:49

Leaders of Hamas and Fatah movements failed to reach an agreement on Thursday to form a Hamas-led Palestinian cabinet in a second meeting within a day.

Azzam Ahmad, leader of the Fatah movement in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), told reporters "there has been no white smoke yet."

There has been progress "in the form of discussions and in the form of understanding certain points in which it is more positive than before, but we still have differences in substantial and basic issues," he said.

"There are still differences in our views, mainly on the political program of the new cabinet and also on accepting the letter of commission that President Mahmoud Abbas handed to Premier-designate Ismail Haneya," said Ahmad.

One of the major issues that Hamas still refused to accept was the declaration of independence the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) made in Algeria in 1988, he added.

The 1988 Palestinian declaration of independence, which was on the basis of the 242 and 338 UN Security Council resolutions, called for the establishment of a Palestinian independent state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967.

Ahmad called on Hamas to accept the declaration and commit to the obligations and deals the PLO has reached with Israel and other concerned parties.

Both the meetings were held in senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar's house in Gaza and each lasted for two hours.