Palestinian Rivals in Cairo for Talks on PM Dispute

Palestinian factions were in Cairo on Tuesday for reconciliation talks aimed at choosing a prime minister to head a unity government.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas's Fatah has said it wants to retain Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to head the government, but the nomination was immediately rejected by Islamist Hamas movement.

Azzam al-Ahmad, who leads the Fatah delegation and Mussa Abu Marzuk, the head of the Hamas delegation, arrived in Cairo on Monday ahead of the Egyptian-sponsored talks, an airport official said.

Fatah's central committee agreed on Saturday to throw their support behind Fayyad, a former World Bank official and preferred candidate of the international community.

But Hamas had said early on that it wanted a prime minister from the Gaza Strip, whereas Fayyad is from the West Bank.

On Sunday, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri downplayed Fayyad's nomination.

"Hamas informed Fatah during the last meeting of its rejection of the choice of Salam Fayyad to head the new government," Zuhri told Agence France Presse.

"The Fatah central committee's nomination of Salam Fayyad to head the government is a Fatah nomination and any head of the new government must be chosen by consensus and not, of course, by one of the parties."

Hamas has yet to put forward a candidate for the prime minister's post.

The Egyptian-sponsored talks are the fruit of a reconciliation agreement signed in Cairo in May aimed at ending years of bitter feuding and laying the groundwork for presidential and legislative elections within a year.