Ismail Haneya, prime minister of sacked Hamas-led Palestinian
coalition government, Tuesday expressed his readiness to quit the
premier post if such a move could help resume dialogue with
President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement.
"If the cost for national dialogue is the (premier) post, we are
ready to pay this price," Haneya told a group of local journalists
at his office in the Gaza Strip, under control of Hamas, or the
Islamic Resistance Movement.
He said the Gaza takeover and the successive crackdown against
Hamas people in West Bank by pro-Abbas forces were past events,
underscoring that Hamas and Fatah are "key pillars for any
Palestinian political regime."
President Abbas dismantled the coalition after the Islamic
movement took control of the coastal enclave in bloody fighting in
mid June and appointed a new one led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
in the West Bank.
Palestinian security services loyal to Abbas launched a
detention campaign against Hamas members and supporters in the West
Bank shortly after Gaza takeover.
Hamas had made several overtures to resume internal dialogue
with Fatah but were all rejected by Abbas, who is sticking to
preconditions for any dialogue, which demand Hamas to evacuate
security compounds in Gaza, restore things in Gaza to pre-takeover
condition and recognize the Fayyad-led new government.
The international-recognized new government, which includes
non-Hamas persons, has left the Islamists cramped in Gaza Strip
under Israeli closure of all crossings and under lack of cash.
Haneya reiterated that the US administration doesn't want Fatah
to hold talks with Hamas in order to pave the way for
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations "and keep exhausting Gaza to
weaken Hamas."
He also warned against a US-proposed international peace
conference, saying it aims to "embody a decision for striking an
Arab or Islamic country."
(Xinhua News Agency August 8, 2007)
