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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Fatah says Hamas must cede Gaza before talks |
| 2008-03-27 |
| Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction on Wednesday ruled out talks with Hamas unless the Islamist group first cedes control of Gaza, casting doubt on a Yemen-sponsored reconciliation push. Fatah and Hamas, which seized control of the coastal enclave last June, agreed in Yemen this week to revive direct talks after months of hostilities to “return the Palestinian situation to what it was before the Gaza incidents”. But an apparent dispute quickly broke out. Hamas has said talks will begin on April 5 while Abbas’s office insisted the Islamist group must first relinquish control of the Gaza Strip. “We are ready to open a new chapter but the Palestinian condition remains unchanged, and that is a complete and a total reversal of the coup,” Abbas’s media adviser Nabil Amr told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. He said, “This is the final position of the Palestinian National Authority, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and of Fatah.” |
| Posted by:Fred |