Moscow - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to hold a further round of talks in Moscow next week with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin said Thursday.

Abbas would be in Moscow from Sunday through Wednesday, Interfax news agency quoted the Kremlin as saying. In similar talks last December Abbas was assured of support by Medvedev.

As well as holding talks with Fatah leader Abbas, Moscow has also maintained contacts with the Palestinian leader's rival Hamas faction, to the annoyance of Israel.

Gaza/Cairo - Representatives of rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah returned to Cairo on Tuesday to resume talks on forming a "national unity" government, representatives of the groups said.

Egyptian-mediated talks between Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, which controls the West Bank, were scheduled to resume on Tuesday, ahead of a broader meeting including more factions on Wednesday.

Gaza - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement on Saturday accused Hamas rulers of Gaza Strip of arresting several Fatah district leaders and officials.

Fatah spokesman Fehmi al-Za'areer said that at least seven of those arrested by Hamas on Saturday morning were leading members, including Abdel Rahman Hamas, a former minister and a member of Fatah higher committee in Gaza Strip.

Gaza  - A leader of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement on Saturday said inter-Palestinian unity and reconciliation talks will resume on Tuesday.

"The national dialogue will resume in Cairo on Tuesday," said Nabil Shaath, a Fatah representative to the talks.

"The first day will be left for unofficial discussions between the Egyptian officials and the leaders of the factions," he added.

Bethlehem - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Saturday reiterated calls for Israel to accept a two-state solution, vowing not to resume negotiations with Israel without an explicit Israeli recognition of previously signed agreements.

Addressing an audience at the opening of an event celebrating Jerusalem's role in Arab culture, Abbas said justice and peace will not come to the Middle East without "an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."

"Jerusalem is the key for peace," said Abbas.

Ramallah - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Friday called reconciliation talks taking place in Cairo between his secular Fatah party and the radical Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza "difficult."

"I do not want to say that there are hurdles or obstacles," he told reporters in Ramallah.

"The talks are difficult and they need effort, good intentions and a real desire to reach reconciliation," he said.