MISHAAL: WASHINGTON STRIVES TO ABORT PALESTINIAN RECONCILIATION

PIC
09/02/2010 – 08:35 AM

MOSCOW, (PIC)– Khaled Mishaal, the head of Hamas’s political bureau,
has accused the United States of trying to foil Palestinian efforts
to achieve the national reconciliation by pressuring Fatah leader
Mahmoud Abbas not to go ahead with it.

In a press conference he held after meeting Sergey Lavrov, the Russian
foreign minister, in Moscow on Monday, Mishaal reaffirmed Hamas’s
readiness to sign the reconciliation paper if its reservations on it
were taken into consideration.

He also welcomed any Russian or international role to back the Egyptian
efforts in this regard in order to end the Palestinian political rift.

Meanwhile, Mishaal hailed the Russian support for Hamas Movement,
adding that it reflected Moscow’s keenness to deal with all essential
players in the region.

He also denied suggestions that Moscow lowered its level of
relationship with Hamas, highlighting that he met with high-ranking
Russian officials including Lavrov and deputy foreign minister
Sultanov, which he said was the third meeting since Hamas won the PA
legislative elections in 2006.

Furthermore, Mishaal called on the international community to carry
out its mandate in rebuilding Gaza Strip, which was devastated by
the brutal Israeli war on it last year, saying that the financing
for the reconstruction was available and needs only international
and Arab mechanisms to facilitate the process.

Lavorv, for his part, pointed out that the meeting with Hamas’s
delegation touched on a number of points including enhancing Egypt’s
efforts to achieve the Palestinian unity.

Mishaal’s visit to Moscow was in response to an official Russian
invitation to the Movement that grabbed broad media attention in that
influential country.