Hamas and Palestinian Authority in talks

Mahmoud Abbas is currently in talks with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and the Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on the potential of forming a unity government ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections. Abbas has received phone calls from Mashaal and Haniyeh confirming their decision to join Hamas with Fatah the Jerusalem Post reports. This is however not the first time that the two parties has announced such an agreement. Over the past few years, Fatah and Hamas have reached a number of such agreements but none were never implemented Hamas leaders allegedly requested that the national unity government serve for six months instead of three as agreed in the 2012 Doha Agreement, which was one of the many attempts at reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions. It is believed that Rami Hamdallah would be choosen as the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister to lead the unity government. The two rival parties have been distant since 2006, when Hamas won the Palestinian democratic elections. Source: PNN