Palestinian PM Haneya to kick off regional tour: office

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya is starting on Tuesday a regional tour which would take him to Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Iran, his office said on Monday.

Haneya's office in Gaza said in a statement sent to reporters that Prime Minister Haneya would leave the Gaza Strip for Cairo through Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt borders, which would be temporarily opened on Tuesday, and hold a series of meetings with Egyptian officials.

The crossing has been permanently closed since the abduction of Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit in southern Gaza Strip on June 25, but it would be temporarily opened for humanitarian reasons a day or two per week.

According to Haneya's office, the purpose of his tour is for an introduction himself to the leaders of those countries for the first time since he took office in late March.

Meanwhile, he will seek the regional countries' support in ending the siege imposed on the Palestinians, increasing financial support to the Palestinians and finding effective ways to resolve the Palestinian problem.

Haneya's government has been facing political and economic sanctions since it was formed in March because Hamas rejects three international conditions of recognizing Israel, renouncing violence and honoring previous agreements signed with Israel.

Earlier on Monday, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported that Haneya will visit Egypt on Tuesday for talks on the Palestinian national unity government and a prisoners' swap.

However, the Haneya office's statement didn't give a clear schedule on which date or what day the prime minister would be visiting each of the other countries during the regional tour.

Haneya, who is also a senior leader of the governing Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), has been barred by Israel to leave the Gaza Strip for several years and has never been out of the strip since taking office as prime minister in March.

His scheduled regional tour comes after a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant factions went into effect in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and the Israel Defense Forces pulled out troops from the strip overnight.

Source: Xinhua