RAMALLAH, West Bank: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction is considering a request to meet with Hamas officials for the first time in months, Fatah officials said on Sunday.

Senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said Abbas told Fatah members in Amman he had received a report from Egypt on Egyptian-sponsored efforts to heal a rift between Fatah and Hamas since the Islamists seized Gaza last year.

The report about recent talks between Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Hamas leaders in Cairo “included a proposal by Hamas to hold a meeting with Fatah in Egypt,” al-Ahmad told Reuters by telephone from Amman.

“Fatah will study this proposal and will consult with all other factions to determine our response,” he said.

Arab diplomats said Hamas had asked to meet with Fatah on Oct. 25, ahead of a meeting next month to discuss Egypt’s proposals for resolving the Fatah-Hamas dispute, a schism that has undermined Abbas in US sponsored peace talks with Israel.

With Egypt’s encouragement “it is likely Fatah would agree to meet on October 25,” another senior Fatah official said.

Egypt has drawn up its plan for Palestinian reconciliation in consultation with 12 factions of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Hamas.

Palestinian officials said the plan calls to replace the Hamas government in Gaza with a non-factional transitional government followed by parliamentary and presidential elections, and for Arab forces to help restructure Gaza’s security forces. Fatah and Hamas have not yet agreed on the terms.

Hamas’s top negotiator, Moussa Abu Marzouq, said the Islamists had agreed with Egypt’s “vision” for a joint Gaza government, but called for other factions to join rather than for it to be non-partisan. A senior PLO official said in response: “Hamas is stalling and trying to change the Egyptian plan.” Abbas called for national dialogue in June after previously saying there could be no negotiation until Hamas pulled out of Gaza. Earlier, Palestinian farmers said they were attacked by Israeli settlers while trying to pick olives near a West Bank settlement on Sunday.

The Israeli military said the settlers and Palestinian villagersclashed near the settlement of Yitzhar. The army said soldiers separated the two sides and briefly fired in the air.

Ali Eid, mayor of the nearby village of Burin near Yitzhar, says the two sides fought with sticks and stones. He says two farmers and one settler were hurt.

In recent years, there has been growing friction between farmers and settlers during the olive harvest. Palestinians complain that they frequently come under attack from militant settlers. The armysays it has put together a plan to keep the peace during the harvest.