Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah on Sunday decided to postpone talks on forming a "national unity" government until August 25, a Palestinian official said. Speaking to reporters in Cairo after a second day of preliminary talks, chief Fatah negotiator Azzam al-Ahmed said the talks "ran up against obstacles. We did not reach results." "The two sides agreed with the Egyptian mediators to postpone the dialogue until August 25," al-Ahmed was quoted as saying the German News Agency "DPA". Delegates from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, which controls Palestinian-administered areas of the West Bank, had been scheduled to reconvene in Cairo for a seventh round of reconciliation talks on July 25.
