CAIRO, March 17, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Palestinian factions have agreed during their talks in Cairo to a formal open-ended cooling off period and opted for more participation in the political process, well-placed sources told IslamOnline.net.

The final communique of the inter-Palestinian dialogue, due to wrap up later on Thursday, March 17, will announce an agreement reached by the 13 participating factions on an unconditional and indefinite “calm”, said the sources.

Disagreements on the final version of the communique remained until the wee hours of Thursday, with Hamas and Islamic Jihad calling for a time limit on the halt of attacks and attaching specific conditions for Israel to abide by, they added.

The Egyptian host was able to convince the two leading factions to accept the following reading;

“Palestinian factions have agreed to continue the cooling-down period, and working to oblige Israel to honor its commitments – chiefly halting aggression, freezing settlements building, releasing detainees, allowing the return of deportees, suspending the construction of the separation wall, dismantling settlements built after March 2001 and returning to the pre-September 28, 2000 borders as a step towards full withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders.”

The main Palestinian resistance groups pledged Saturday, February 12, to maintain a de facto truce and not to immediately retaliate any Israeli aggression, while they weigh a formal ceasefire with Tel Aviv.

The sources said the communique will also include three recommendations, mainly allowing the factions a more say in politics.

It will recommend to the Palestinian Legislative Council amending the legislative elections law to be based on a mixed system of single-member constituency and proportional representation.

The communique will also recommend amending municipal elections legislation based on the proportional representation system.

The third recommendation calls for setting up a committee to put final touches on plans for re-forming the National Council, the Palestinian Parliament in exile, within 2005.

The source told IOL that the recommendations will pave the way for the factions to join the umbrella Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).

Thus, they added, the PLO Executive Committee would become the unified leadership of Palestinians in and outside the Palestinian territories and its political program would represent all factions and powers.

“The decision ended a major problem probed in earlier inter-Palestinian talks on a unified leadership and the participation of the factions in the decision-making process,” said the sources.

Hamas confirmed last week a decision to take part in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

“Given its interest in reinforcing Palestinian unity at this time, and the strong building of Palestinian institutions and achievements of real comprehensive national reform, Hamas has taken the decision to participate in the elections,” Mohammad Ghazal, a Hamas leader, told a press conference on Saturday, March 12.

A Palestinian political analyst told IOL on Monday, March 14, that Hamas’s landmark decision will boost increasing demands within the mainstream Fatah movement to accelerate internal reforms to contain poor popularity ratings.