Top Hamas official Mahmud Al Zahar on Tuesday rejected the conditions set by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas for talks aimed at halting the internal conflict.
"President Abbas has repeated the same declarations that he wants a dialogue with conditions, and for us this is unacceptable," Zahar told a press conference in Gaza City.
Abbas on Monday said he was willing to enter into a dialogue with Hamas but only if it first returned the beleaguered coastal strip to his control. "We in Hamas are ready to lick our wounds and turn over a new page with Abu Mazen (Abbas) for the sake of our people," Zahar said, according to AFP. However, the former foreign minister noted that his movement would not accept any preconditions.
Additionally, Zahar told the news conference: "An early ballot is completely rejected." Zahar said Abbas' offer of a dialogue would be credible only if the Palestinian Authority "freed all political detainees" and halted its "campaign of pursuit" against Hamas activists in the West Bank.
Calling on Abbas not to trust Israel or the United States, Zahar said: "If you extend a hand to Hamas, you will make history. But if you do the opposite, then history will show no mercy."
Meanwhile, Hamas and Fatah fighters continued to wage gun battles in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. The death toll from the fighting, which started late Monday, went up to seven. According to Reuters, medical workers said four Hamas men and three Fatah supporters had been killed since Monday.
Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed at a U.S.-hosted summit in Annapolis, Maryland in November to restart Palestinian statehood talks try to reach a peace deal before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009. (Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
