The two main Palestinian factions sat down on Sunday to continue talks over forming a unity government, amid renewed hopes that a new cabinet could finally be agreed upon after five months of deadlock.
The afternoon talks between president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction and the governing Hamas movement "will concentrate on the structure and form of the government, the number of ministers and the portfolios given out to (different Palestinian) movements," Khalil al-Hiyya, the head of Hamas's faction in parliament and the senior Hamas negotiator, told AFP.
The two sides, at loggerheads since late June, drew closer to agreement this week after Abbas and Haniya met face to face in Gaza.
The two have already agreed on a new prime minister and a joint program, according to senior officials, and are now discussing the remaining cabinet posts.
"We start the meetings with the brothers from Fatah to establish the base for the government, and then we will continue them with other movements," Hiyya said, adding that "we are heading toward a veritable political partnership."
Ahmed Qorei, an Abbas adviser, is representing Fatah in the talks.
Abbas has already accepted the candidate for prime minister proposed by Hamas, and the two sides have agreed on a common political program, according to senior Fatah and Hamas officials. No details have yet emerged about the new premier's identity.
The remaining obstacles to a final agreement center on the distribution of 24 cabinet portfolios, a senior Fatah official close to the talks told AFP.
Hamas is seeking eight cabinet posts, and wants Fatah to have just four, the official said. According to the Hamas proposal, lesser factions would get eight posts and independents four. Fatah, the official said, wants at least six portfolios in the new cabinet.
For months attempts at hammering out a joint Fatah-Hamas governing platform have run up against the group's stance on recognising the Jewish state's right to exist and pledging to abide past peace deals.
Palestinians hope that a new unity government will help ease a spiralling political and financial crisis gripping the Palestinian territories.
On Saturday optimism again surged that an accord was near as Abbas said he expected to see a unity government formed before the end of November.
"I say to our people that we have realised great progress on the road toward forming a national unity government that can break the siege and open the way for a political solution that will end the occupation for ever," Abbas said at a ceremony marking the second anniversary of his predecessor Yasser Arafat's death.
"I expect, God willing, that this government will see the light of day before the end of the month."
Abbas' announcement came on the heels of Haniya proclaiming his willingness to step aside as premier if necessary.
"If we have to choose between the siege and myself, we must lift the siege and end the suffering," Haniya said in a Friday prayer sermon in a Gaza mosque.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who arrived in the US Sunday to meet with President George W. Bush for the second time since coming to power in April, has recently signalled a renewed willingness to resume talks with Abbas.