Hamas official: Reconciliation talks totally frozen

October 25, 2009

Gaza – Ma’an – Hamas declared on Sunday that reconciliation talks with the rival Fatah movement are now completely on hold after President Mahmoud Abbas set a date for elections.

"The speech that President Abbas delivered on Friday has cut many of the strings.Now there are no contacts and the matter is totally frozen," said Salah Bardawil, the spokesperson of Hamas’ parliamentary contingent.

Bardawil denied media reports that a Hamas delegation would soon travel to Cairo for further talks with Egyptian mediators on a potential deal with Fatah.

"Hamas wants reconciliation but not on Abbas’ terms - he wants to eliminate the resistance," the official added.

On Friday Abbas declared new presidential and parliamentary elections for 25 January, a step Hamas says should only have come after a unity deal is signed.

In June 2007, Abbas dissolved a Hamas-Fatah unity government when the Islamist group took full control of the Gaza Strip. Hamas won the last round of parliamentary elections in 2006.