Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

Meshaal calls for dialogue after Hamas secures Gaza
15 Jun 2007 20:19:09 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds dialogue, more quotes)

DAMASCUS, June 15 (Reuters) - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal called for dialogue on Friday with President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement after days of civil war in Gaza.

Meshaal told a news conference in the Syrian capital that Hamas had no option but to use force to wrest control of the area from rival Fatah in fighting that killed dozens of Palestinians.

"What is needed now is to deal with the Palestinian schism. Hamas is for Arab sponsorship of a dialogue in the Palestinian national interest," Meshaal said hours after Arab foreign ministers met in Cairo to discuss the crisis.

"The lack of security drove the crisis toward explosion. What happened in Gaza was a necessary step. The people were suffering from chaos and lack of security and this treatment was needed," said Meshaal, who lives in Damascus.

Calling for a reorganisation of Palestinian security forces, Meshaal said elements in Fatah he did not want to identify were to blame for the lack of security in Gaza.

"We need to restructure the Palestinian security apparatus to be a national force chosen according to merit and not on a factional basis," Meshaal said.

Western powers showed support for Abbas on Friday after Hamas routed his forces in the Gaza Strip and began imposing a new order in the enclave after days of civil war.


AlertNet news is provided by

Email this article       Send comments

Emergencies

•  Israeli-Palestinian conflict

MORE >>

Countries

Small country map
© 2004 Europa Technologies Ltd.
Reset map

•  Israel profile
· View map

•  Palestinian territories profile
· View map

•  Syria profile
· View map

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  Gaza-Westbank – ICRC Bulletin No. 22 / 2007
ICRC - Switzerland

•  Human Trafficking Report Shows All Forms Must Be Addressed
WV - USA

•  Continuing isolation of Gaza results in more violence.
Christian Aid - UK

•  Appeal update: April & May 2007 Flooding and Tornadoes
CWS

•  Gaza-WestBank – ICRC Bulletin No. 21 / 2007
ICRC - Switzerland

MORE >>

Latest news

•  Meshaal calls for dialogue after Hamas secures Gaza

•  Egypt backs Abbas in conflict with Hamas

•  U.S. Treasury names three Libyans for terror ties

•  Hamas forced to act against Fatah - Meshaal

•  U.S. says all Iraq reinforcements now in place

MORE >>

Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Fri Jun 15 20:20:33 2007