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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Hamas: Abbas signals signs for factional reconciliation |
| 2008-05-29 |
| (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have signaled positive signs towards solving the Palestinian political crisis, mainly disputes with rival Hamas movement, a Hamas official said Wednesday. Ayman Dharaghma, a Hamas parliamentarian, said Abbas told a Hamas delegation during a meeting took place at Abbas' office in Ramallah on Monday, a rare event since Hamas takeover of Gaza, that "it is necessary to work on overcoming the internal Palestinian impasse." Dharaghma said they talked with Abbas about "the human rights violations" in West Bank, referring to a crackdown pro-Abbas forces launched against Hamas members in the territory since about one year ago. The crackdown was launched after Hamas ousted Abbas' Fatah movement and took over the Gaza Strip by force in June 2007. Since then, Abbas banned any contacts between his movement and Hamas, especially the Gaza-based Islamists. Abbas and Hamas leaders in West Bank also talked about stopping media campaigns against each other "because they harm the image of the Palestinian struggle," Dharaghma said. Meanwhile, a Hamas leader in Gaza is purportedly to be going to Qatar to look into possibilities of a Hamas-Fatah meeting for reconciliation. Mahmoud Zahar, the former Hamas foreign minister, said he hoped that Qatar will be able to arrange for the reconciliation as it succeeded in settling Lebanon's political crisis this month. |
| Posted by:Fred |