Abu Marzouq, Amro, held a meeting in Cairo

Friday October 10, 2008 22:14 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

In a positive development in the national dialogue supervised and supported by Egypt, the Hamas deputy political bureau chief, Mousa Abu Marzouq, held a meeting on Friday with the Palestinian ambassador in Egypt, one of the senior Fateh leaders, Nabil Amro.

Mousa Abu Marzouq (left) Nabil Amro

The meeting lasted for nearly 90 minutes and was attended by members of the Hamas political bureau, Izzat Al Rishiq, Mohammad Nasr and Khalil Al Hayya.

Amro said that President Mahmoud Abbas is weighing Hamas’ proposal of holding a trilateral meeting which includes Hamas, Fateh and Egyptian officials.

The meeting was described as positive and was also attended by the Abdul-Salam, the son of Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyya.

Amro said that the priority should be to achieving national unity and ending the siege on Gaza, and added that many voices are skeptic about Hamas’ seriousness in national talks as some figures believes that Hamas only wants to improve its relation with Egypt.

“But we have no time, I believe that we should achieve and implement an agreement”, he added, “Gaza is now an isolated, surrounded island”.

He also said that president Mahmoud Abbas has the legitimacy to extend his presidency and added that Arab, regional and international countries are demanding that Abbas remains in office until the Palestinians hold presidential and legislative elections.

Meanwhile, Abu Marzouq of Hamas said that Hamas is really willing to end the political crisis and that the movement “knocked on every door to achieve reconciliation”. He also said that the Quartet committee, Fateh movement and others were betting on breaking the will of Hamas and oust it from power.

“Hamas is not seeking internal divisions; we have a crisis here, but Hamas is going for national talks because it wants national unity, and not because it was pressured to do so”, Abu Marzouq added, “there is an Arab consensus to support the Egyptian efforts, and there is a good chance for success”.

He also said that Hamas agrees with Egypt on forming a national unity government and that Hamas is willing to fully cooperate on this issue, including reforming the security devices.

He added that Hamas welcomes the presence of Arab observers and experts in different committees that are in charge of reforming the security devices and resolving all conflicting issues”.

Abu Marzouq stated that Hamas is not totally against extending the term of Abbas in office, and said that such a decision is political and should be made by following correct legal measures.

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