Hamas Says No Unity Talks While Fatah Holds Prisoners

The detention of Hamas member by Fatah in the "Israeli"-occupied West Bank will scupper reconciliation talks between the rival Palestinian factions, a Hamas official was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

Hamas and Fatah are expected to resume reconciliation talks in Cairo on February 22, Salah el-Bardawil told Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Yom newspaper, but warned that the movement will not attend while a "single (Hamas) prisoner" is behind bars.

"We will not sit down (with Fatah) until they release (Hamas prisoners) and whoever does not want to release them does not want reconciliation," he said.

Bardawil headed a delegation of Hamas officials from Gaza who met Egyptian intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman at the weekend to bolster a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and resume Palestinian unity talks.

Another delegation member, Jamal Abu Hashim, met Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed on Monday in a preparatory meeting for the reconciliation talks. "It was a consultative meeting to break the ice and to go forward toward reconciliation," Ahmed said at a press conference.

Asked about Hamas' demand for the release of prisoners, Ahmed told reporters on Monday: "We want to sit down at the table without conditions."

The Egyptian-mediated talks between Fatah and Hamas broke off in November when Hamas boycotted a meeting in Cairo, saying Fatah was continuing to arrest its members in the West Bank.

"Hamas needs guarantees from others, and how will it go to reconciliation talks while 650 of our leaders are in Abu Mazen's jails?" Bardawil said, referring to Abbas.

Egypt has proposed Feb. 22 as the date for the start of a dialogue between Palestinian groups, several of the groups said in reports published on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit of Egypt, which has been mediating between the groups, told reporters: "We will invite the Palestinian groups. We hope we will succeed in this in the third week or at the end of the third week of February."

Bilal Kassem, an official of the Palestine Liberation Front, told the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Hayat: "Egypt will issue invitations to a comprehensive Palestinian national dialogue on Feb. 22."

Ayman Taha, an official of the Hamas movement, said Tuesday that Feb. 22 was a date under discussion and not final. "This is among the ideas under discussions and to which we will give some responses in due course," he added.

In Tuesday's interview, Bardawil said "Israel" was demanding a "security belt" 500 meters (yards) wide on the Gaza border and that Hamas would not accept "Israeli" occupation soldier Gilad Shalit's release as a condition for the truce.

Bardawil also said the Palestinian Authority could not oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, because "Abu Mazen is not in Gaza, the government in Gaza is Hamas." He said Hamas would agree to "shared national committee" to help with reconstruction. Fatah has said a unity government should oversee reconstruction.