The face-to-face meeting on Monday between the two leaders, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (pictured right) and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal (pictured left) was their first in more than a year. It follows the announcement in April that their Fatah and Hamas groups would work together to form a new interim government and hold new presidential and parliamentary elections.

"Abbas and Meshaal held a long meeting this afternoon in Doha to discuss the latest Palestinian developments, including the reconciliation agreement and creating a positive atmosphere in which to achieve it," a statement from Hamas said.

Meshaal (pictured left) has been based in Qatar for the past two years, having left his previous headquarters in Damascus because of Syria's civil war.

Prisoners freed

The split between the Palestinian groups dates back to 2007, when the Islamist Hamas group, which is listed as a terror organization by the United States and Israel, seized the Gaza strip from forces loyal to Abbas after winning a parliamentary election the year before.

That left Fatah and the PLO - which favor negotiations with Israel - to control the West Bank. Several previous reconciliation attempts between the two groups have failed.

The unity agreement was condemned by Israel and shortly after it was announced, peace talks brokered by the United States between the Israelis and Palestinians broke down.

As part of the Palestinian unity pact, Gaza's interior ministry said it had freed six prisoners from Fatah on Monday. The two parties have jailed several of each other's members since the 2007 conflict.

Abbas was asked to return the favor by Issa Nashar, an adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.

se/rc (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)