Islamic Hamas movement on Saturday called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to announce the failure of the Middle East peace process and to start a national dialogue instead.
"Hamas movement calls on the (Palestinian National) Authority president to officially announce the failure of the negotiations and to return to negotiate with the Palestinian powers," said Hamas' spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri.
Hamas' call was made after Abbas ended talks with U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday. The talks did not achieve any progress in pushing peace talks with Israel.
"This failure proves that all promises by Bush, about creating a Palestinian statehood before he steps down, were only lies and illusions," Abu Zuhri said.
Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) launched peace talks at a U.S.-hosted conference in November last year, hoping to reach a deal before the end of this year.
The expansion of Israeli settlements in West Bank and East Jerusalem were seen by the PNA as the main obstacles to the talks.
Hamas called on Abbas to resume inter-Palestinian dialogue which was stopped when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip after routing pro-Abbas forces last June. Abbas has refused to hold any talks with Hamas unless it gives up Gaza Strip.
Source: Xinhua
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