Haniyah is willing to negotiate with Abbas and Egypt about a deal to run Rafah crossing

Thursday January 24, 2008 15:33 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Hamas leader and deposed prime minister Isma'el Haniyah stated on Thursday he is willing to negotiate a deal to run the Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the Egyptian government.

Hamas leader Isma'el Haniyeh - File 2007

Haniyah's statement came during an interview with the Qatari based aljazeera TV Arabic service. "Running things alone is an unsuccessful policy" Haniyah told aljazeera TV.

The Hamas movement won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, shortly after Hamas formed a national unity government headed by Haniyah, in July 2007 after several months of bloody internal infighting with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah party; Hamas took total control of Gaza.

Abbas fired Haniyah's government and appointed Salam Fayyad and his government that was based in the West Bank while the Hamas government still controls the Gaza Strip.

Responding to Haniyah's statement on Thursday, Nimier Hamad, one of the Palestinian President advisors, said that Hamas first must admit its failure of running the Gaza Strip and ask the Palestinian President to send his forces to run Rafah crossing.

gaza strip | palestinian politics | news report ghassanb at imemc dot org