RAMALLAH, West Bank, 3 November 2007 — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Hamas officials yesterday for the first time since the Islamist group seized Gaza in June, but ruled out formal reconciliation talks until Hamas cedes the territory.
Abbas said he met Hamas lawmaker Hussein Abu Kwaik and a Hamas-backed former government minister, Naser El-Deen Al-Shaer, informally at his presidential compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Hamas officials said Abbas initiated the meeting by inviting the officials for Friday prayers.
“I met with Hamas officials and told them there would be no dialogue with Hamas until they reverse their coup,” Abbas told Reuters in Ramallah shortly after the meeting. Abbas has refused to hold talks with Hamas since the group routed his forces in Gaza during violent clashes in June. The Palestinian leader has sacked a Hamas-led government and appointed a Fatah-backed administration in the West Bank, leading to an easing of US and Israeli sanctions and plans for a peace conference.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian security officers arrived in Nablus yesterday in the first stage of a Western-backed drive to crack down on gunmen in the occupied West Bank ahead of a peace conference with Israel. Israel, which is trying to bolster Abbas against Hamas, approved the deployment in the flash point West Bank city. Israeli government spokesman David Baker said the move would improve security and could be repeated elsewhere in the West Bank if it worked well.
