“Palestinian national dialogue in Cairo has not made any progress or any steps forward," a member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said on Friday.

Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative Mustafa Barghouthi disagreed, however, and said the dialogue did not fail. “Dialogue among the committee members is intensive and serious,” Barghuthi said. He reiterated comments made by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas earlier in the day, saying dialogue is a difficult process and small details make a big difference.

Egypt has set Saturday as the last day for the first round of talks, following which the five committees will return to Gaza, the West Bank and Damascus. The Secretary Generals who make up the Higher Committee will stay in Egypt and discuss the following steps. Egyptian sources noted that a break in the dialogue was planned, and did not indicate a failure.

PLO Committee Success

Sources said significant progress was made in the PLO committee, but that the other four committees on the formation of the transitional government, issues in reconciliation, security and elections. Walid Al-‘Awad from the Palestine People’s Party (PPP) and member of the PLO committee said the group completed its work and submitted it to the higher committee for review.

The central agreement of the committee was to pursue the following:

1- Reform the PLO to empower its status as a legitimate representative of the Palestinians.

2-Hold Palestinian National Council (PNC) elections simultaneously with the legislative elections in January 2010.

Political maneuvering

A DFLP statement accused Hamas and Fatah members of working out “political maneuvers” including private bilateral talks aimed at dividing up the government seats between the two parties at the cost of all the other factions. He also accused Hamas and Fatah of working to suppress several documents already signed outlining how the parties will interact and share power.

The DFLP statement urged the Egyptian mediators to quash such partisan and bilateral talks in the interest of preventing internal disunity from erupting for a second time in the future.