A long-awaited Palestinian national unity dialogue opened Thursday morning in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.

Under the sponsorship of Egypt, the inter-Palestinian dialogue was attended by all Palestinian factions, including representatives of rival Fatah and Hamas movements.

The Palestinian groups are expected to discuss during the closed-door meetings means of healing the Palestinian feud and closing ranks of the Palestinians.

Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman said at the opening session broadcast live that the inter-Palestinian dialogue should be a real start for a new stage to end the Palestinian rift.

Suleiman voiced Egypt's support for the Palestinian national unity, calling on the Palestinian factions to shoulder the responsibility for the interest of the Palestinian people, the Egyptian MENA news agency quoted a official source as saying.

Representatives of the Palestinian groups discussed "the formation and missions of the five committees that were agreed upon in last November," namely on reconciliation, government, security, elections and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, said MENA.

They also agreed to form a sixth committee grouping Egypt and the Arab League to help end any differences that may emerge during the five committee meetings, it added.

Thursday's talks came a day after the two main Palestinian groups agreed on confidence-building measures to "halt hostile media campaigns, political arrests and to release a number of detainees held by the two movements."

On Wednesday, senior officials of Fatah and Hamas movements voiced their hope that the inter-Palestinian dialogue would be held successfully.

The last round of inter-Palestinian dialogue was thwarted by Hamas last November, for the alleged crackdowns against its members in the Fatah-dominated West Bank.

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2009)