The Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, on Saturday called on the Arab League (AL) committee, which helped resolve the Lebanese crisis, to visit the territory to help settle inter-Palestinian disputes. In a statement, Taher al-Noono, the spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza, said that the AL committee "is invited tovisit Gaza and the West Bank to help end the status of internal Palestinian disputes and help lift the blockade imposed on Gaza." Rival Fatah and Hamas movements had severed all ties nearly one year ago after the latter took control of the Gaza Strip by force and routed Fatah security forces of moderate President Mahmoud Abbas in June.
Both movements have violated two reconciliation agreements they had agreed upon. The first was reached in Cairo in March 2005, and the second was reached in Mecca in Saudi Arabia in February last year.
Yemen had also presented an initiative of reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. Although both had welcomed and accepted the initiative, they disagreed on the mechanism of implementing it. The Yemeni initiative and President Abbas had called on Hamas first to end its Gaza takeover, bring the situation back and go for early presidential and legislative elections. Hamas rejects those demands.
"The Arab League is still able to play an effective role in the policies of the region," al-Noono told a news conference in Gaza." We call on the Arab League to send its representatives to help resolve the Palestinian crisis."
Source: Xinhua
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