FATAH/HAMAS FINALIZING UNITY AGREEMENT?

'Fatah, Hamas polishing unity agreement' (JPost)
Fatah officials have agreed to Yemen's reconciliation initiative and are prepared to sign it, while Hamas officials requested additional time to discuss the initiative with the group's leaders, Yemen's Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi announced on Saturday.

According to a Yemenite news agency, talks between the rival Fatah and Hamas are continuing to take place in Yemen, after a crisis in talks occurred on Thursday in which Fatah representatives threatened to return to Ramallah.

"Hamas is not declining the Yemenite initiative which aims to resolve the rivalry between Hamas and Fatah," Ahmed Youssef, adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, told the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi.

Youssef also said that Hamas is maintaining contacts with European representatives. "Most of the Europeans we maintain contact with are British, Swedish, Swiss and French. In most cases they were unofficial European representatives who are helping change the European attitude towards Hamas."

On Thursday, An attempt by the Yemeni government to mend fences between Fatah and Hamas failed after the Fatah delegation walked out of the talks.

Earlier this week, representatives of Fatah and Hamas were invited to Yemen's capital Sanaa for talks on an initiative by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to end the ongoing power struggle between the two parties.

The initiative urges Hamas to end its control of the Gaza Strip and hand the area back to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah.

Earlier Saturday, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported that senior representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad are set to meet Egyptian officials on Saturday in order to discuss a truce, or period of calm, with Israel.