Egypt postponed the Palestinian national dialogue, which was scheduled to start in Cairo early next week, for the stated reason, "special preoccupations" with the Egyptian General Intelligence Service, the sponsor of the dialogue.

But identical Egyptian and Palestinian sources revealed to Al Jazeera Net that the real reason for the delay is due to the failure to reach "common ground" between the parties indicating an agreement at the end of the dialogue.

A reliable Egyptian source told Al Jazeera Net that Cairo decided to postpone the dialogue indefinitely, without setting another date for its holding, "and the reason is that the General Intelligence Service found that the chances of success are weak, and may be non-existent, as a result of the wide gap between the positions of Fatah and Hamas."

The source - who preferred to remain anonymous - added that Egypt was keen to hold a dialogue and reach an agreement that would help arrange the Palestinian house and devote itself to repairing what was destroyed by the recent Israeli war on Gaza, and the delay has nothing to do with any special Egyptian preoccupations.

The source said that over the years, Cairo had sponsored the Palestinian dialogues, and had always had “other important files,” the latest of which was its sponsorship of the factions’ dialogue last February, which led to an agreement to hold Palestinian elections, despite its great preoccupation with the conflict with Ethiopia over the “Renaissance Dam file.” ".

The dispute focused on two main points related to the reconciliation process and the reconstruction file, according to an Egyptian source (Al-Jazeera)

Key points of contention

And after Egyptian intelligence officials held separate talks for days between the delegations of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah), to determine the dialogue’s agenda and course;

Efforts reached a dead end.

It was scheduled to start the delegations of the rest of the Palestinian forces and factions to arrive in Cairo today, Thursday, to participate in the work of the national dialogue next Saturday.

The dispute between the two movements focused on two main points related to the path of reconciliation and the file of reconstruction, in addition to a marginal issue related to the “usual Fatah objection” to the invitation of 3 factions to participate in the dialogue work, according to the sources.

Hamas wants to start discussing the reconciliation file from the "top of the pyramid", represented by the PLO, considering that a return to the agreement of last February and holding successive elections starting with the legislative, then the presidential, and then the National Council are no longer possible, after President Mahmoud Abbas "made a decision unilaterally” to postpone the legislative elections that were scheduled for May 22nd.

Hamas proposed to the Egyptian sponsor to start the elections in the National Council with the aim of re-arranging the PLO to become a true representative of the Palestinian people, and then holding the legislative and presidential elections, or holding the three elections simultaneously, followed by the formation of a national unity government with all powers, according to the sources.

Regarding the reconstruction file, Hamas categorically refused to return to the mechanism that followed the third Israeli war in 2014, which was marred by many "suspicions of corruption" and the very slow pace of rebuilding what was destroyed by the war.

According to Palestinian and Egyptian sources, Hamas is proposing the formation of a "special body" composed of professional figures, and it does not object to the authority having a representative in it, and under Egyptian-Qatari supervision, that will undertake the reconstruction process to ensure speed and transparency.

Objection open

An official from the Fatah movement - who preferred not to be named - accused Hamas of seeking to be "an alternative and not a partner", and that it came to Cairo this time in a completely different way from its predecessors, believing - as he said - that "the equation changed in its favor after the recent Israeli aggression on Gaza." ".

Fatah categorically refused to change the "track of reconciliation", and its delegation in Cairo defended the decision to postpone the legislative elections in order to ensure that they take place in Jerusalem as well as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and that the current conditions are not conducive to change in light of what the Holy City is exposed to by Israel.

Palestinian and Egyptian sources told Al Jazeera Net that Fatah offered to form a unity government that would supervise the reconstruction file and the rest of the files that would be agreed upon, and adhered to the full Palestinian Authority supervision over the reconstruction file and rejected any alternative proposals.

This evening, Thursday, the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh announced that a delegation of his ministers will go to Cairo within two days to discuss the international mechanisms proposed for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, and to replace the previous mechanism that had been approved by the United Nations and Israel.

In one of the obstacles described as marginal in the two factions’ dialogue, Fatah again expressed its objection to Egypt’s invitation to 3 factions from Gaza, namely: the Popular Resistance Committees, the Ahrar Movement, and the Mujahideen Movement.

The sources said that Egypt responded to the objection of Fatah, while Hamas did not stop much on this matter.

This is not the first time that Fatah has objected to this call, as it does not recognize them as factions, but rather see them as pro-Hamas formations. Resistance committees were established after the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000 with the aim of resisting the occupation without a political agenda, while the "Free" and "" Mujahideen" after the internal division in 2007.

Post-war changes

For his part, the leader of the "Democratic Reform Movement", Sufian Abu Zayda, said that the cancellation of the Cairo dialogue "came after changes imposed by the results of the recent aggression on Gaza, and the accompanying popular rebellion in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and that what was appropriate to waste time and keep the situation as it is." It doesn't work anymore."

Abu Zayda believed - in a post on his official Facebook page - that "the Palestinian situation no longer works with prosthetic solutions, and that a fundamental change must take place related to performance, structures and people."

He said that returning to the option of legislative, presidential and National Council elections has become a mandatory path for rebuilding the Palestinian political system.

And before that happens, all the people, institutions and names have lost legal and popular legitimacy, as he put it.