CAIRO: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in Cairo on Thursday to try to revive a reconciliation pact signed seven months ago but still not implemented.

The deal had aimed to end a four-year rift that has split the Palestinians ideologically and geographically.

Here are some facts about the issues dividing them.

* Hamas and Abbas's Fatah have been unable to agree on a cabinet made up of independent technocrats that, according to the agreement, should have reunited Gaza and the West Bank under one administration before overseeing new elections by May.

* Abbas had insisted on keeping Western-backed Salam Fayyad as prime minister but Hamas refused, accusing Fayyad of participating in the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, its stronghold. Recent reports suggested that Abbas had agreed to give up Fayyad.

* Forging Palestinian unity is regarded as crucial to reviving any prospect for an independent Palestinian state, but Western powers have always refused to deal with Hamas because of its refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence.

* Fatah is the mainstream Palestinian nationalist movement founded in 1965 by late leader Yasser Arafat. It is a mostly secular party and the largest of the factions that make up the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Hamas is not in the PLO.

* It originally backed armed struggle to create a Palestinian state but later led peacemaking efforts with Israel for a deal to create a state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as capital -- lands Israel occupied in 1967.

* Fatah chief Arafat signed the first interim peace deal with Israel in 1993 but despite repeated U.S.-brokered efforts, a full accord has proved elusive, with Israelis and Palestinians blaming each other for repeated failures. The last round of direct talks broke down last September.

* After decades of dominance, Fatah lost a 2006 parliamentary election to Hamas. A year later its forces were routed by Hamas in a civil war and ousted from the Gaza Strip. Its power in the West Bank has been reduced by persistent internal struggles and its influence has waned with the rise of technocrat prime minister Fayyad.

* Hamas is the largest Palestinian militant Islamist group. It was founded in 1987 during the first Palestinian Intifada, or uprising. Originally it concentrated on armed struggle against Israel, led by its armed wing the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, and on numerous social welfare programmes. However, it soon got deeply involved in local politics.

* Hamas believes Palestinians must use force in their struggle with Israel and opposes negotiation. The group's founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel. Hamas has since said it would accept the establishment of a Palestinian state next to Israel and a long-term truce as a "transitional solution". It has also said it would "respect the will of the people", suggesting it would accept a referendum endorsing a "two-state" deal with Israel.

* Due to its refusal to renounce violence and recognize Israel, many Western powers view the group as a terrorist organization and refuse to deal with it.

* Hamas is part of a regional alliance comprising Iran, Syria and the Shi'ite Islamist group Hezbollah in Lebanon, which all broadly oppose U.S. policy in the Middle East.