The Palestinian Authority Chairman and the political leader of Hamas held a rare meeting Friday in the Egyptian capital - their first since Fatah and Hamas formed a coalition government, officials from both camps said. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas' supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal, were to discuss the troubled cease-fire with Israel, international sanctions against the Palestinians, the PLO restructuring in which Hamas wants a part, as well as other issues facing the recently formed government.
Neither side commented on their discussion after the conclusion of the meeting.
According to Saeb Erekat, a top aide to Abbas, also on the agenda would be the fate of Israeli kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Schalit.
Egypt has tried to negotiate Schalit's release for months and has blamed Hamas for failing to conclude the deal. Israeli Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who visited Cairo in October, said his government had accepted Egypt's conditions for a prisoner swap and blamed Mashaal for the failure to conclude the deal.
Hamas' representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said the meeting would also consider a "restructuring" of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The umbrella group - which is separate from the newly formed Fatah-Hamas government - is the sole party authorized to conduct negotiations with Israel.
Since the coalition government was approved in March, Hamas has been pressing to acquire the post of deputy chairman of the PLO, apparently jostling for more influence in talks with Israel.