RAMALLAH, Nov 2: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met Hamas leaders in the West Bank on Friday for the first time since the Islamists routed his forces in a bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip in June.
However, he ruled out any dialogue with Hamas — the Islamic Resistance Movement regarded as a terrorist group by Israel and the West — until Gaza returns to his authority.
Abbas, who leads the moderate Fatah party, hosted Nasserdine al-Shaer, former deputy prime minister in the first Hamas government, at his office in the West Bank capital of Ramallah.
“The president told them that no dialogue could take place until Hamas back tracks and renounces what it acquire in its illegal coup,” the presidency said in a statement.
Two other senior Hamas members in the West Bank, Farraj Rumana and Hussein Abu Qweik, and Hamas MP Ayman Daraghmeh also attended the meeting. All men also attended the Friday prayers at the leadership compound.
Abbas has long ruled out any dialogue with Hamas unless the movement returns Gaza to his authority after what he calls a coup d’etat that has effectively split Palestinian society into two entities.
The meeting came ahead of a planned US-sponsored peace conference, and Israel warned that cosying up to the Islamists could sabotage progress made with moderate Palestinians.
Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said Abbas “had no problem” with Hamas as a movement but with its leaders in the Gaza Strip “who deviated from the right path in carrying out a coup”.
“We must not allow ourselves to get swept into internecine wars. As president Abbas said, Hamas is part of the Palestinian people. Our problem is with a small group who rose up against legitimate authority,” he said.
“The coup must end immediately and ranks fall in behind the legitimate president, Mahmud Abbas,” Abu Rudeina said.
A Hamas spokesman in Gaza played down the meeting.
“They prayed with president Abbas who invited them with other Islamic dignitaries. Nothing more. That does not amount to dialogue,” spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
In Ramallah, Shaer said he and his colleagues had discussed with Abbas “the internal situation in the Palestinian territories in an open manner.
“This sends a positive signal to our people and decreases tension,” said Shaer, who considered a pragmatist within Hamas.
“The meeting took place in a positive atmosphere. We spoke about the hardship the Palestinians have gone through. I hope this is the prelude to dialogue,” added Abu Qweik.
Asked whether the meeting showed a division between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Abu Qweik said the party was “one entity” and that the meeting was not intended as a signal of opposition to colleagues in Gaza.
On Wednesday, he and Rumana denied Hamas had any ambitions to capture control of the West Bank after its seizure of Gaza.
Earlier this week, a Hamas leader in Gaza, Nizar Rayan vowed to capture the West Bank and make Abbas “fall like the autumn leaves”.
Abbas’s Palestinian Authority is currently preparing for a conference with Israel in the United States, which have sparked hopes of reviving the stalled Middle East peace process after a seven-year hiatus.
Washington and Israel would likely cast a dim view on any rapprochement between Abbas and Hamas, a group they blacklist as terrorist, particularly at a time when Israelis and Palestinians are trying to revive peace efforts.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due in Israel and the Palestinian territories this weekend on her eighth visit this year, with the two sides yet to agree on a joint document for the US conference.
Israel warned that cosying up to the Islamists could sabotage progress under way with moderate Palestinians.
“Such action could threaten progress in the negotiations and compromise future progress,” said foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev.—AFP
Source: http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/03/int1.htm
However, he ruled out any dialogue with Hamas — the Islamic Resistance Movement regarded as a terrorist group by Israel and the West — until Gaza returns to his authority.
Abbas, who leads the moderate Fatah party, hosted Nasserdine al-Shaer, former deputy prime minister in the first Hamas government, at his office in the West Bank capital of Ramallah.
“The president told them that no dialogue could take place until Hamas back tracks and renounces what it acquire in its illegal coup,” the presidency said in a statement.
Two other senior Hamas members in the West Bank, Farraj Rumana and Hussein Abu Qweik, and Hamas MP Ayman Daraghmeh also attended the meeting. All men also attended the Friday prayers at the leadership compound.
Abbas has long ruled out any dialogue with Hamas unless the movement returns Gaza to his authority after what he calls a coup d’etat that has effectively split Palestinian society into two entities.
The meeting came ahead of a planned US-sponsored peace conference, and Israel warned that cosying up to the Islamists could sabotage progress made with moderate Palestinians.
Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said Abbas “had no problem” with Hamas as a movement but with its leaders in the Gaza Strip “who deviated from the right path in carrying out a coup”.
“We must not allow ourselves to get swept into internecine wars. As president Abbas said, Hamas is part of the Palestinian people. Our problem is with a small group who rose up against legitimate authority,” he said.
“The coup must end immediately and ranks fall in behind the legitimate president, Mahmud Abbas,” Abu Rudeina said.
A Hamas spokesman in Gaza played down the meeting.
“They prayed with president Abbas who invited them with other Islamic dignitaries. Nothing more. That does not amount to dialogue,” spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
In Ramallah, Shaer said he and his colleagues had discussed with Abbas “the internal situation in the Palestinian territories in an open manner.
“This sends a positive signal to our people and decreases tension,” said Shaer, who considered a pragmatist within Hamas.
“The meeting took place in a positive atmosphere. We spoke about the hardship the Palestinians have gone through. I hope this is the prelude to dialogue,” added Abu Qweik.
Asked whether the meeting showed a division between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Abu Qweik said the party was “one entity” and that the meeting was not intended as a signal of opposition to colleagues in Gaza.
On Wednesday, he and Rumana denied Hamas had any ambitions to capture control of the West Bank after its seizure of Gaza.
Earlier this week, a Hamas leader in Gaza, Nizar Rayan vowed to capture the West Bank and make Abbas “fall like the autumn leaves”.
Abbas’s Palestinian Authority is currently preparing for a conference with Israel in the United States, which have sparked hopes of reviving the stalled Middle East peace process after a seven-year hiatus.
Washington and Israel would likely cast a dim view on any rapprochement between Abbas and Hamas, a group they blacklist as terrorist, particularly at a time when Israelis and Palestinians are trying to revive peace efforts.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due in Israel and the Palestinian territories this weekend on her eighth visit this year, with the two sides yet to agree on a joint document for the US conference.
Israel warned that cosying up to the Islamists could sabotage progress under way with moderate Palestinians.
“Such action could threaten progress in the negotiations and compromise future progress,” said foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev.—AFP
Source: http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/03/int1.htm
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