sponsored reconciliation talks between Palestinian groups will take place Wednesday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Saturday. Ending divisions between Hamas and the rival Fatah group of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is seen as key to lifting an Israeli-led blockade of the Gaza Strip, enforced since Hamas won a parliamentary election in 2006. “In order for the dialogue to succeed, serious work must be exerted to release all political prisoners from the Palestinian Authority jails in the West Bank,” said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. A Fatah official said the group could order an imminent amnesty for some Hamas prisoners.
