The Palestinian national dialogue sessions began Monday in Cairo with the participation of 14 factions, headed by Fatah and Hamas, over arrangements for organizing Palestinian legislative and presidential elections for the first time in 15 years, according to Egyptian state television.

The television confirmed that "the Palestinian national dialogue was launched in Cairo under the auspices of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi."

The Islamic Hamas movement won the last Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, but Fatah did not recognize this victory, which led to the outbreak of bloody clashes between the two parties and the political division that continues today.

The political division between the two parties resulted in placing the Palestinian territories under two different political systems in the absence of a single parliament. The Palestinian Authority, headed by Mahmoud Abbas, rules the occupied West Bank, where about 2.8 million people live, while Hamas runs the besieged Gaza Strip, which includes about two million people.

In mid-January, the Palestinian president signed a decree to hold elections, in a move analysts saw as a way for the Palestinians to gain legitimacy, and it came days before the inauguration of US President Joe Biden.

The two delegations of Fatah, headed by Jibril Rajoub, and the Hamas delegation, led by Saleh al-Arouri, should try to remove obstacles to holding the elections and agree on legal, security, technical and logistical issues related to the elections.

In Ramallah, Khalil Shikaki, to a list that includes the legal, security and technical issues that must be addressed for the safety of the elections.

Before leaving for the Egyptian capital, Gabriel Rajoub told France Press, "We are heading to Cairo and we are confident that we will agree to overcome any obstacles in order to make the legislative elections successful," scheduled for May 22.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said on his Facebook page that "the Palestinian elections received Palestinian consensus and regional and international support, and everyone is serious about it."

The start of this dialogue coincides with an emergency meeting of the Arab League Council at the level of foreign ministers devoted to the Palestinian cause.

Arab diplomatic sources said that this meeting would reaffirm "adherence to the two-state solution to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."

Also read: Palestinian Authority launches own postal codes in assertion of sovereignty