By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A senior European Union official on Friday voiced support for Palestinian unity talks between rival political factions but said the bloc's final position could only be determined once they reach a deal. The factions, including Islamist group Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah, began reconciliation talks in Cairo on Thursday in a latest bid to agree by March 20 to form a unity government that could end an international embargo on Gaza. A deal, and a subsequent lifting of the blockade on the coastal strip currently ruled by Hamas, could also help boost Abbas's peacemaking efforts with Israel. European Union Foreign Policy Chief, Javier Solana, said he discussed Egypt's mediation efforts while in Cairo, but added that the European Union would have to await the outcome of the talks before taking a position. Solana was making his first visit to Gaza since before June 2007 when Hamas ousted Abbas's Fatah faction and took over the coastal enclave in a brief but bloody civil war. Previous efforts by Arab negotiators to reconcile Fatah and Hamas failed. "It is just a first step ... let's see what happens, but in principle, as the people in Cairo know very well, we are supporting that process," Solana told reporters in Gaza City. "Let's see what's at the end and we will talk when it comes to an end, but in principle we are supporting them," he added. The United States, Israel and the European Union have shunned dialogue with Hamas, citing its refusal to renounce violence, recognise Israel and past peace agreements. Hamas leaders maintained their rejection of the demands. "We are not willing and we do not want to recognise the Zionist occupation (Israel)," said senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar in Cairo on Wednesday. Solana said the EU and the United States would attend a Western donors' conference in Egypt next week that will seek to raise some of the $2.8 billion estimated as needed for relief work in Gaza following Israel's 22-day offensive there that ended on Jan. 18 and caused extensive destruction. "The European Union will be there and we will like to collecting with other countries of the world to get money that will be necessary to reconstruct the destruction that has taken place in this period of time," Solana said. More than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the fighting in the territory that ended with a shaky truce. Solana said European Union, which once oversaw the operation of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, was ready to redeploy monitors once a reconciliation agreement is reached. Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store, who was also touring sites in Gaza on Friday, described the damage caused by Israel during the offensive was "senseless destruction." "This is senseless destruction, destroying the lives of ordinary people, creating misery and not creating peace and not creating security," Store said. Store said militants who launch rockets into Israel were responsible for setting off the conflict but that the Jewish state's response was disproportionate. "I think that those people inside Gaza who have been sending rockets into Israel bear a big responsibility, but the kind of destruction we have seen here ... goes beyond what international law allows in terms of response." (Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Editing by Ori Lewis and Dominic Evans)
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana (L) walks past the damaged caused during Israel's 22-day offensive, during his visit to an industrial zone in Gaza February 27, 2009. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem ...
