Palestinians said on Tuesday they were ready to form a unity government and expected to unveil its new cabinet at a meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Cairo next week.
Leaders from the two factions met for several hours in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss forming the new government agreed under a reconciliation deal reached in April.
"The prime minister's name and that of the ministers will be announced before the people on Tuesday (next week)," Hamas's deputy politburo head Mousa Abu Marzook, told Reuters in an interview.
Earlier on Monday, a Palestinian negotiator said that talks between Hamas and Fatah in Cairo had broken off until next week without an agreement over a new Palestinian prime minister.
Fatah negotiator Azzam al-Ahmad said talks will resume in a week, this time with two top figures in attendance — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.
Naming a premier is one of the main disputes.
Hamas officials taking part in the talks said Tuesday that the sides agreed that the current Western-backed prime minister, Salam Fayyad, will leave his post. Al-Ahmad denied that.
Hamas sees Fayyad, a popular moderate, as too close to the West. Fatah believes the U.S.-educated economist is the best candidate to ease concerns that donor money might go to Hamas.
Israel, the U.S. and EU label Hamas a terror group. Hamas does not recognize Israel and has refused to renounce violence. In past years Hamas has sent dozens of suicide bombers into Israel, and Palestinian militants have fired thousands of rockets at southern Israel from Gaza.
Fatah and Hamas have been violently at odds since 2006, when Hamas won a parliamentary election. Fighting between the sides culminated in Hamas successfully wresting control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah forces in 2007. Since then, Hamas has governed Gaza, while the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, led by Fatah, has governed in the West Bank.
Several previous attempts at reconciliation between the sides have failed.