The Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement called Wednesday for separating the Palestinian internal issue from current talks between the United States and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, made the remarks in response to reports that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the region to push for peace talks between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

"We don't have details about these negotiations, but we, the Islamic Jihad, don't trust the U.S. administration," al-Batsh said.

"We don't ignore these political activities which are subject to the desire and orders of the United States that aim at leaving the Palestinian people busy in civil war," he added.

Al-Batsh said Rice is the owner of "New Middle East" project which is designed to shuffle the situation in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories in a way that only serves Israel.

Source: Xinhua