Cairo/Gaza - Egypt is to announce Saturday that crucial reconciliation talks between the Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah scheduled on Monday is to be postponed, al-Jazeera news network reported.

The decision came after Hamas has officially asked Cairo to postpone the talks which they see as "not yet ripe," the report said.

Egypt intends to inform the rest of Palestinian factions who were on their way to attend the meeting.

Earlier in the Gaza Strip, the local Ramattan news agency quoted Palestinian officials as sayiang Egypt had informed them that the dialogue meeting was being postponed.

Gaza - Egypt has postponed a planned inter-Palestinian dialogue as several factions, mainly Hamas, have decided to boycott it, Palestinian sources said on Saturday.

Ramattan, a local news agency, quoted Palestinian officials as saying that Egypt told them the dialogue, which was scheduled to start on Sunday, was being postponed.

Twelve Palestinian factions had been invited to the dialogue.

Meanwhile, a Hamas official said his movement decided to boycott the dialogue, blaming the rival Fatah movement headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Cairo - The Palestinian-Israeli peace process will be the main topic of a meeting on Saturday of Arab foreign ministers with representatives of the Middle East diplomatic Quartet in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Shiekh.

"This meeting is important as it can lead to deeper understanding between the Arab countries and the Quartet on how to proceed regionally and internationally to support negotiations between the two sides," said the spokesman of Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Hussam Zaki.

Beirut - Military police with the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon arrested two terrorist suspects in the northern Lebanese refugee camp of Beddawi following a clash inside the chantytown, Palestinian sources said Friday.

According to the sources the two suspects were arrested after a major clash and were identified as Nader al-Ali and Khaled Jaber, who are accused of being members of a terrorist ring headed by wanted Lebanese citizen Abdul Ghani Jawhar.

Ramallah - Faced with the failure of Israelis and Palestinians to meet an end of year deadline for a peace deal, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice nonetheless insisted Friday that a final settlement of the dispute between the sides was attainable.

President George W Bush's vision of a Palestinian state living alongside Israel "will not come in a single dramatic moment, but it will come," she told a news conference in Ramallah.

Ramallah  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Friday on US president-elect Barack Obama not to waste any time in getting involved in the Israel-Palestinian peace process, after the US admitted that a peace deal by the end of the year is unlikely.

Addressing a joint news conference in Ramallah with visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Abbas said Palestinians wanted to continue their efforts to reach a final settlement with Israel.

Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged at last year's Annapolis peace summit to try and reach a peace agreement by the end of 2008.