Mixed signals as Palestinian unity talks resume in Cairo (Roundup)

Gaza City/Cairo - Palestinian negotiators sent mixed signals on their expectations as a sixth round of talks aimed at establishing a 'national unity' government opened in Cairo on Sunday. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, which controls Palestinian-administered areas of the West Bank, held unofficial consultations on Sunday afternoon, negotiators said. The official talks will resume when Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who is brokering the talks, returned from Saudi Arabia, where he was accompanying Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak on a state visit, they added. Egyptian mediators have imposed a July 7 deadline on the Palestinian factions to sign an agreement either to form a national unity government or to agree to an Egyptian compromise that would see a joint committee coordinate between the Hamas and Fatah governments. A total of five previous rounds of talks have faltered over the details of the conduct of elections, control of Palestinian security forces, and each group's arrest of members of the other. 'We are optimistic that a deal will be signed on July 7 following the series of talks and meetings held between Egyptians and Palestinian factions' leaders in Cairo,' said Yasser al-Wadiya, who is representing independent Palestinian figures in the talks. 'All efforts are now focused on the formation of a national unity government that would be able to unify the institutions of the Palestinian Authority, prepare for elections and commence the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip,' he said. But in a statement earlier in the day, Hamas spokesman in Gaza Fawzi Barhoum said that all the outstanding issues in negotiations over a national unity Palestinian government 'are linked to resolving the issue of the political arrests against Hamas members in the West Bank.' Hamas on Sunday freed 20 prisoners loyal to Fatah party in the Gaza Strip, Gaza's Hamas-controlled interior ministry said. Hamas denies it holds Fatah activists for political reasons. The Interior Ministry said that the 20 were freed after initial interrogation found them not guilty. Abdullah Abu Samhadana, a Fatah official in Gaza, said his movement had not been officially informed of the Interior Ministry's decision. Hamas says 900 of its members and supporters are in jails controlled by security forces loyal to Abbas in the West Bank. Hamas wants Abbas to free all of them within a specific period of time. 'The first session of the dialogue between Hamas and Fatah in Cairo will focus on the issue of the political arrests,' Barhoum said. 'As soon as they agree on a solution to this issue, they will debate the other issues.' Barhoum denied recent reports suggesting that Palestinian factions might postpone talks for another month. 'But,' he said, 'The ongoing arrests would make it difficult to reach an agreement so soon.' Speaking on the eve of the talks on Saturday, senior Fatah negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed said that 84 Hamas members were released from West Bank prisons last week, and that an additional 44 were released on Friday. 'The security forces are releasing Hamas members to create a positive atmosphere for the ... dialogue. Hamas doesn't say anything about 209 Fatah members imprisoned in Hamas jails in Gaza,' he said.