Fatah agreed at initial talks with Hamas yesterday to try to find common ground for a governing partnership between the long-dominant Palestinian faction and the militant group that crushed it at the polls.

Fatah has been cool to the idea of joining a government led by its powerful Islamist rival, which swept to victory in the January 25 election on a platform of rooting out corruption in a Palestinian Authority dominated by the mainstream faction.

After talks at a Hamas leader's Gaza home, Fatah's Azzam al-Ahmad, head of its parliamentary faction, said: "We are in a dialogue that has only just begun and we want to find common ground and we hope that we will seal an agreement."

Outlining what appeared to be a major sticking point, Ahmad said Fatah would insist a Hamas-led administration adopt President Mahmoud Abbas' vision of negotiating peace with Israel.

"There is an intention by all factions to participate in the coming government, including the brothers in Fatah," said Hamas' Mahmoud al-Zahar, who hosted the Gaza talks.

With US President George W. Bush and some Western nations threatening to halt aid to a Hamas-controlled government, Iran pledged financial assistance to the cash-strapped authority. Israel, which says Hamas and Iran are wedded to terrorism, has already stopped transferring tax revenue to the Palestinians.

"We will definitely provide financial aid to this government so they can stand up against the oppression of America," said Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, after meeting Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, visiting Teheran during a regional tour in search of funds.

Source: China Daily