Azzam Al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah's Central Committee, said in a press statement that he will meet representatives of several Palestinian factions in Damascus, including the Hamas movement.

Al-Ahmad will meet with Hamas political supremo Khaled Meshaal, who lives in exile in Syria, Hamas political official Ezzat Al-Rushuq said in Damascus.

The Fatah official said that the "contacts with Hamas were not cut." He revealed that he met with Hamas' representatives in Lebanon, Gaza Strip and West Bank in a bid to "overcome the obstacles that impede the signing of the Egyptian reconciliation proposal."

The Damascus talks will be the fruit of efforts by Meshaal after he met in Saudi Arabia with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who has been instrumental in past efforts by Cairo to end the dispute between the two parties.

In the last general election in 2006, Hamas unexpectedly defeated Fatah, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Tensions between the two came to a head the following year when Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip routed those loyal to Abbas' Palestinian Authority, confining the latter's authority to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Egypt has made several attempts at reconciliation, but the last round of talks ended in October 2009 when Hamas refused to sign an Egyptian document after it was inked by Fatah.

Under the terms of that document, legislative and presidential elections were to have been held in mid-2010.

Relations between the two parties have become more complicated recently after Hamas roundly condemned Abbas for agreeing to resume direct peace talks with Israel, and promised to continue its armed struggle against the Zionist state, whose existence it does not recognize.

A poll by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center published on Thursday found that 43.8 percent of Palestinians would have voted for Fatah if local elections had been held this year, compared to 13.5 percent who would have voted for Hamas.

However, 26.4 percent said they would not have voted at all.

The poll showed that 54.3 percent of respondents believe the acceptance of direct peace talks serve the Palestinian interests, although 58.8 percent of the respondents said that Palestinian acceptance of the Quartet Committee's request to resume the negotiations came because of external pressure.