Top officials in the rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions dismissed talk of an impending reconciliation yesterday, less than a day after their envoys in Yemen signed a proposal to begin deliberations on a single, united Palestinian government.

Sources close to Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority and leader of Fatah, said that their envoy had signed the agreement only because of a mix-up. Hamas officials said that the importance of the proposal was exaggerated and unlikely to yield any results.

The Yemeni-brokered proposal would have ended the stand-off between the two factions, which began in June, when Hamas routed Fatah forces in the Gaza Strip and established its own administration there under the leadership of Ismail Haniyeh. Mr Abbas, who controls the West Bank through his Ramallah-based Government, has insisted that any reconciliation with Hamas must include the return of the Gaza Strip to his fold.

Hamas has shown no intention of stepping down from power, despite an Israeli-imposed embargo on the Gaza Strip. A recent poll by the West Bank-based Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research indicated that if new elections were held Mr Haniyeh and Mr Abbas would be neck and neck, receiving 47 per cent and 46 per cent of the vote respectively. Those figures show a sharp increase in support for Mr Haniyeh, who was polled in December to receive only 37 per cent of the Palestinian vote.

A source in the Fatah Government said that the growing popularity of Hamas could be attributed to the continuing Israeli military incursions in the Gaza Strip.

“There is great sympathy for the sufferings of our Palestinian brothers in Gaza. We feel the bond of a common force – the Israeli military – against us,” a Fatah MP said. He added that his party’s decision to participate in talks with Hamas could be aimed at appeasing the popular call for Palestinian unity rather than a real attempt to unite the two factions.

Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, who paid a three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories hoping to revive the US-brokered peace talks, voiced his own speculation on the Hamas-Fatah talks.

“My conclusion, from talking with the Palestinian leadership, is that they have established preconditions which would have to be fulfilled before they would ever agree to a reconciliation, including a complete reversal of the Hamas takeover of Gaza,” he said.

A senior Israeli official said yesterday: “We don’t believe these talks are going to lead to anything, but we are sending a clear message to [Mr Abbas] that he can’t dance at two weddings at the same time. He can either have the Annapolis peace process to try and get an agreement by the end of the year, or a coalition with Hamas.”

Right-wing Israeli MPs seized upon the Yemen proposal to renew their call for Israel to back out of the peace talks. Gilad Erdan, an MP from the Likud party, said: “The agreement proves that there is no difference between Fatah and Hamas . . . They are all connected with terrorism against Israeli civilians. Unfortunately, the Government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is promoting negotiations to save its own seats in power.”

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