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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Abbas drops demand for Hamas to relinquish Gaza before talks |
| 2008-06-05 |
| Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday called for the first time for renewed dialogue with Hamas without demanding the militant Islamic group first relinquish control of Gaza. Hamas overran Gaza a year ago and expelled forces loyal to Abbas. Referring to the latest attempt to bridge the rift, he called for "national dialogue to implement the Yemeni initiative in all its elements, to end the internal division that harms our people, (our] cause," Abbas made the comments in a broadcast speech to his people on Wednesday evening. In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu welcomed the call for talks. "We welcome this call by the President Abbas to launch a national dialogue, and we consider it a positive step," he said. Abbas said if the talks succeed, I will call for new legislative and presidential elections. Abbas won an election to succeed Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004, but Hamas swept his Fatah Part out of power in a 2006 election. |
| Posted by:Fred |