Mufti of Jerusalem in Cairo ahead of ceremonial Hamas-Fatah signing

May 3, 2011, 10:10 GMT

Cairo - The mufti of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem arrived to Cairo Tuesday, on the eve of the signing of a reconciliation deal between the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement and its rival, Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah party.

Mufti Mohamed Hussein arrived to Cairo with a delegation of 10 Palestinians from the Fatah-administered West Bank city of Ramallah.

Meanwhile, a group of Palestinians also arrived to Cairo on Tuesday from Damascus, where a number of leading exiled Hamas officials reside.

The two Palestinian rival factions agreed last week to form an interim government in the lead-up to elections, in a reconciliation deal mediated by Egyptian intelligence after years of bloody infighting.

The agreement, to be signed in a ceremony in Cairo on Wednesday, calls for the interim government to be constituted by 'independents' of whom both groups approve. The caretaker government will set the stage for elections in one year to form a unity government.

Egypt has frequently mediated talks between various Palestinian factions since the two main parties began feuding in 2006, when Hamas beat Fatah in parliamentary elections.

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