Ma'an News Agency
October 29, 2010 - 12:00am
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=328549


The Palestinian Authority opposes efforts to normalize ties between Hamas and the international community, a PA security official said Wednesday.

Adnan Dmeiri, PA security services spokesman, said the US and EU were making efforts to engage Hamas in the peace process.

"This is not the first attempt by some Europeans and Americans to present Hamas as the party that can 'provide the commodity,'" Dmeiri told Ma'an.

It was not clear what recent event Dmeiri referenced, but he said Hamas recently made efforts to at improving ties with the West. Ismail Haniyeh, the deposed Palestinian prime minister and Hamas leader, said days earlier that the Islamic movement was ready to hold dialogue with Europe.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has said that Hamas is ready to engage in dialogue with the US. Yet, Hamas does not possess any offer for a political settlement and the same applies to Netanyahu`s government, which seeks to maintain the status quo.

Hamas shows readiness to accept a long-term truce with the exclusion of Jerusalem, the refugees` right and the rest of final status affairs. The Americans, the Europeans and the Israelis are very aware of this proposal by Hamas. By contrast, President Mahmoud Abbas proposes a political settlement, he said.

In the meantime, US and European countries like Norway try through mediators and secret contacts to deal with Hamas as a competent party to provide Israel with the required commodity of a Palestinian state with provisional borders, Dmeiri claimed.

Tensions between Hamas and the Fatah-run PA remain high.

On Thursday, Hamas accused PA forces of detaining four supporters across the West Bank. Hamas said PA forces detained the four in Nablus, Hebron, and Bethlehem.




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