| Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday stuck to his tough conditions for resuming contacts with Hamas, despite attempts by Egypt to bring the rivals together to solve the growing chaos on the Gaza-Egypt border. In a speech Saturday, Abbas denounced the Hamas takeover of Gaza as a “crime” and said the Islamic militants must reverse these steps if they want to resume talks with him. Meanwhile, Palestinian officials said Abbas would ask Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to end a blockade in Gaza and accept his offer to control Gaza’s border crossings. The two leaders are expected to meet on Sunday to discuss how to push forward with peace talks after Hamas breached Gaza’s border with Egypt in defiance of an Israeli blockade. Israel and the Palestinians launched their most serious peace talks in seven years at a US-sponsored conference in November with the goal of signing a peace treaty in 2008. |