Unity talks between Palestinian rival groups Fatah and Hamas have ended with the two sides failing to come together on the procedures that would govern a new election. Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas is currently in the eighth year of his four-year presidential term in the West Bank, while Hamas rules the Gaza Strip, which it seized from Fatah in a bloody 2007 coup. With the two sides deadlocked, no election date has been set. Middle East experts say Hamas-Fatah unity would in fact be a setback to a permanent, peaceful, negotiated outcome to the Arab-Israeli peace process. Hamas, which is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, and its leadership often calls for the destruction of Israel and the annihilation of the Jewish people.