Egypt says will send mediators back to Gaza

A file photo of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak attending the opening ceremony of the Arab summit in Riyadh March 28, 2007. Egypt will send its security delegation back to Gaza ''when things calm down'' and then resume its mediation between Palestinian factions, Mubarak said in an interview published on Wednesday.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt will send its security delegation back to Gaza "when things calm down" and then resume its mediation between Palestinian factions, President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview published on Wednesday.

Egypt withdrew the delegation on June 15, the day after the Islamist movement Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip from Fatah, and the Egyptian government said this was because there was no legitimate authority in Gaza.

Mubarak told the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth: "The security delegation left Gaza and so mediation could not continue. But when things calm down the delegation will go back and we will continue to talk with them."

In other interviews he gave on Tuesday, Mubarak indicated a sudden shift in Egyptian thinking about the takeover of Gaza.

He predicted that Hamas and the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would have to come to terms when the two sides "come to their senses."

In the interview with the Israeli newspaper, he said that negotiations between Hamas and Fatah should lead to an agreement on a single Palestinian security apparatus and full powers for the president of the Palestinian Authority.

The new Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, insisted on Tuesday that Hamas must accept his government's authority before it will consider calls for negotiations.

Responding to Mubarak's proposal of dialogue, he told Reuters in the West Bank city of Ramallah:

"These are key principles that everyone has to accept for there to be any meaningful steps taken: First, Hamas has to relinquish any and all claims to legitimacy as a regime in Gaza. Second, there has to be acceptance of the constitutional measures taken by the president."