Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said efforts to end the feud with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were deadlocked because of Israeli and US meddling, and insisted his men would stay in control of Gaza Strip.
And he warned that resistance remained the only option for Hamas. "Mediation efforts are at an impasse because they [Abbas' Fatah faction] have shut all the doors, and rejected Palestinian and other Arab mediation, including initiatives by some Fatah officials," Meshaal said in a telephone interview with AFP from Syria.
"Israeli and American interference is responsible for blocking the reconciliation," he said. Meshaal added: "We have not taken Gaza in order to give it back to them ... We have defended our legitimacy against 'warlords' who were preparing a coup with the help of the Americans and the Israelis."
