RAMALLAH, West Bank, 29 March 2008 — Hamas has urged the Arab leaders meeting in Damascus today and tomorrow to help end Israeli blockade of Gaza and back the Yemen-sponsored reconciliation agreement between the group and its Palestinian rival Fatah.
“We call on you (Arab leaders) to carry out your national and brotherly responsibilities in sponsoring a Palestinian-Palestinian dialogue, especially between Fatah and Hamas to put an end to the current political problem,” Hamas said in a memo sent to the Arab summit.
It described the Yemeni initiative as a “good and important opportunity” for the restoration of the Palestinian national unity, adding that the Sanaa declaration could pave the way for genuine inter-Palestinian dialogue.
Hamas also stressed the need for unity among Palestinian parties to “confront the US-Israeli conspiracies against the Palestinian people.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said he would not hold “redundant dialogue” with Hamas, unless it brings the situation in Gaza Strip back to what it was before mid-June 2007.
President Abbas refused to endorse the agreement hours after it was signed in Sanaa, saying Fatah representative Azzam Al-Ahmed failed to seek his authorization by telephone as he was meeting US Vice President Dick Cheney at that time.
The agreement calls for opening reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah, restoring the status that existed in the Gaza Strip and West Bank before Hamas seized control in June 2007, establishing another Hamas-Fatah unity government, and holding early elections in the Palestinian territories.
In its memo, Hamas urged Palestinian and Arab parties not to leave room for foreign interventions in the Palestinian affairs, explaining that the US and Israel were and still are striving to sow discord among Palestinian groups.
Jailed Speaker of Palestinian Legislative Council Aziz Dwaik has also called on Arab leaders to place the Palestinian cause as the main item on their agenda.
Dweik, on behalf of imprisoned Hamas legislators and ministers, urged Arab leaders in a letter, to protect Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
