Cairo - Palestinian negotiators have not had their proposals
for amendments to a draft reconciliation plan rejected out of hand in
the run up to inter-Palestinian peace talks, senior Hamas official
Mahmoud al-Zahar said Tuesday.
'It is not true that the amendments were rejected ... we have
already overcome many obstacles,' al-Zahar told Deutsche Presse-
Agentur dpa.
The talks, scheduled to run from November 10-11, are designed to
seek peace between the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas, which has de
facto control of the Gaza Strip, and the Fatah-led Palestinian
Authority, which runs the West Bank. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
is to officiate at the meeting.
Khaled Abdel Meguid, secretary of the follow-up committee of a
national meeting of Palestinians, was quoted last week saying that
'Egypt told the Palestinian factions that it would not consider the
comments and amendments made by the factions on the draft submitted
by Cairo.'
Abdel Meguid also reportedly said that Cairo's refusal to consider
the amendments endangered the ability to hold the conference.
But on Tuesday, an official source told dpa: 'Egypt told the Hamas
delegation that all the observations made by the movement and other
Palestinian factions on the Egyptian proposal will be taken into
account during discussions.'
He added that Egypt will not interfere in the Palestinian
dialogue, unless a huge difference arose between the factions and
threatened the process.
A Hamas delegation, headed by Mussa Abu Marzouk and al-Zahar, held
talks with Egyptian officials on Tuesday. Al-Zahar described the
meeting as 'positive and productive.'
'We will not announce our final position before assessing the
situation at home and abroad, that is: in the Gaza Strip, the West
Bank and Damascus,' Zahar added.
The official source said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
will hold a conference next Monday to reveal information about the
dialogue.
Egypt has been brokering reconciliation talks between Hamas, Fatah
and various other Palestinian factions for months. The Egyptian-
drafted proposal calls for reforming the Palestinian security
services, which is divided between the factions, and forming a new
national unity government.
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