The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip today played down the chances of quick reconciliation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.
"Things are still at the beginning and it may take a long time," said Ismail Haniyeh, whom Mr Abbas dismissed as prime minister of a Hamas-led unity government last June after the Islamist group routed secular Fatah from the Gaza Strip.
Mr Abbas's call last week for "a national and comprehensive dialogue" has been welcomed by Haniyeh, though aides to Mr Abbas said there was no change in his demand that Hamas give up control of the Gaza Strip.
Haniyeh said any dialogue should be held "without conditions". "There should be no winners and no losers."
Haniyeh cited resistance from Israel as a factor that could delay reconciliation.
President George W. Bush is pushing Mr Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to strike a deal on Palestinian statehood this year. But Israel has said it could review its ties with MAbbas if he were to mend relations with Hamas, which refuses to renounce violence or recognise the Jewish state.
The flurry of debate on relations between Hamas and Abbas's Fatah movement coincided with Palestinian commemorations of the Israeli capture of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967 and the first anniversary of the fighting that saw the Islamists rout Fatah forces in Gaza and take control there.
The schism has handicapped Mr Abbas in efforts to negotiate for a Palestinian state in US-sponsored talks with Israel, although it also brought an end to Western sanctions on the Fatah-run West Bank after Mr Abbas fired the Hamas-led government.