The Palestinians on Monday cautiously welcomed the reconciliation deal reached in Cairo on Sunday evening between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Party and the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, the Palestinian rivals reached a series of Egyptian- brokered understandings on allowing the Central Elections Commission (CEC) to operate in Gaza from May 27.

The new deal also allows both factions to start a 10-day consultation to form a six-month interim unity government, in line with a previous agreement that Qatar brokered in Doha in February, which envisions an interim government headed by Abbas, whose tasks include preparing for the elections.

Azzam al-Ahmad, chief of Fatah Party delegation to the dialogue with Hamas, told Voice of Palestine Radio on Monday that the new interim unity government is scheduled to be declared within a maximum of ten days starting from May 27.

"Once the government is formed, President Abbas and Hamas movement's chief Khaled Meshaal will meet in Cairo and declare the formation," al-Ahmad said, adding that "the new government will unify the institutions of the Palestinian authority under one unified law."

According to Cairo deal, the six-month interim unity government will prepare for holding presidential and legislative elections and reconstructing the Gaza Strip.

The understandings reached in Cairo may annul a Palestinian caretaker government reshuffled last week if a new interim government that unifies the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is formed.

Salah al-Bardaweel, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, told Xinhua that the understandings should be implemented on time and in parallel "to block any future attempt to hinder or delay (the reconciliation)," adding that "the new deal doesn't include any new item, but just setting up a timetable for the implementation."

"Implementing the deal as one package on time is a good opportunity for our success. The deal was a response to the demands and appeals of Egypt to the Palestinians to achieve a real reconciliation, to end the division and to put an end to the delay and the exchange of accusations," said al-Bardaweel.

Although the Hamas official expressed his movement's readiness to implement what had been agreed upon, he doubted that the current situation in the West Bank and pressures from Israel and the United States on the Palestinian authority "would help the accurate and full implementation of the agreements."

Mustafa Bargouti, a Palestinian lawmaker, told Xinhua "It is nice to reach a deal or an understanding, but it will be much nicer to see them implemented," expressing concerns that new pressures by either Israel or the United States "may influence either Fatah or Hamas groups to back off from reconciliation.

Jamil Mezher, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), told Xinhua that the Palestinian factions hope that what Fatah and Hamas had agreed upon will be implemented soon and that the two rivals will avoid deepening their disputes and trading accusations.

Allowing the CEC to operate in Gaza will be the first practical step to see the agreements implemented, said Hisham Kehail, CEC executive director, adding that his office is ready to start operating in the Gaza Strip anytime according to the agreed upon timetable.

"The commission needs at least six weeks to operate and reach the standard in the West Bank, including leasing new buildings in Gaza and electronically connecting it with CEC offices all over the Palestinian territories," said Kehail.

There are 220,000 Gaza residents who need to be registered, which will cost at least 90 days according to the elections law, Kehail added.

Kehail also stressed that the current Palestinian elections law, which was used in the last legislative elections of 2006, needs to be amended.

The modification should bear in consideration two systems, the constituencies and the lists, Kehail said, adding that 33 seats has to be for the constituencies and 99 seats for the lists in the 132-seat Palestinian Legislative Council.