Hamas meets with Palestinian factions for coalition talks

Hamas held coalition talks in Gaza City today with several Palestinian factions, but made no progress in bringing the defeated Fatah Party of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas into the fold.

Hamas, which won Palestinian parliament elections in January, has until the end of March to form a government.

Fatah is not expected to join, in part because of Hamas’ refusal to recognise interim peace deals with Israel.

Today’s talks were headed by Mahmoud Zahar, the head of the Hamas faction in parliament.