Hamas welcomes "new spirit" from Abbas

GAZA/RAMALLAH (Reuters) - The leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip welcomed on Thursday what he called a "new spirit" of dialogue from the Palestinian president but it was unclear how far the rival factions were moving to end a year-old schism.

Aides to President Mahmoud Abbas strongly rejected suggestions that Abbas had employed any warmer tone toward his Islamist opponents in Gaza during a keynote speech on Wednesday.

That view was echoed in Washington after Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, spoke by telephone with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who opposes contact with Hamas unless it drops its hostility to Israel and ends attacks on the Jewish state.

The flurry of debate on relations between Hamas and Abbas's secular Fatah movement coincided with Palestinian commemorations of the Israeli capture of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967 and the first anniversary of the outbreak of fighting that saw the Islamists rout Fatah forces in Gaza and take control there.

The schism has hampered Abbas in efforts to negotiate for a Palestinian state in U.S.-sponsored talks with Israel although it also brought an end to Western sanctions on the Fatah-run West Bank after Abbas fired the elected Hamas-led government.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, whom Abbas dismissed as prime minister a year ago, said: "We welcome President Abu Mazen's call for a national and comprehensive dialogue and view positively to the new spirit that appeared in the speech.

"Our hands are outstretched to the brothers in the homeland ... We confirm our readiness to make dialogue succeed as quickly as possible and to show the flexibility needed from all sides."

Aides to Abbas, who on Wednesday had called for "a national and comprehensive dialogue" with Hamas, were quick to insist the president wanted only discussion on the implementation of a recent Yemeni diplomatic initiative which called for Hamas to give up its hold on Gaza -- not a debate on mutual concessions.

"President Abbas' position has not changed," Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said. "It is wrong to say that Abbas no longer calls for ending Hamas' coup to end the divisions."

However, after Haniyeh's speech, senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said: "We welcome any positive approach and we hope that Haniyeh's readiness will translate into practical moves."

But he made clear Abbas brooked no rivals: "The dialogue must be on the basis of one authority, one gun, one law."

TALKS WITH ISRAEL

Some analysts saw Abbas's forceful renewal of a call for Arab states to mediate an end to the split between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank as part of strategy to bolster his position at home in the face of mounting skepticism over the prospects of reaching a deal this year on establishing a Palestinian state in U.S.-sponsored talks with Israel.

Reminding Israel and its U.S. and European allies that he has the option of again embracing their enemies in Hamas if talks fail, may offer Abbas some negotiating leverage.

One senior Israeli official said Israel believed the talk from Ramallah was meant to increase pressure on Israel and the United States to salvage a peace process that is threatened by a corruption scandal facing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and by Palestinian complaints over Israeli settlements.

Echoing comments from Fatah officials, Haniyeh noted the success of Arab mediators in brokering a deal last month among rival factions in Lebanon and expressed hope a similar approach could succeeding in healing Palestinian rifts.

"We are ready to have this dialogue in any Arab country on the basis of no loser and no winner in the hope of an agreement that would make the Palestinian people the victors," he said.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack commenting on Rice's call to Abbas, played down suggestions that Abbas had softened his opposition to dialogue with Hamas, saying that the Yemeni plan called for contacts conditional on Hamas accepting Fatah leadership and previous Fatah agreements with Israel.

"His conditions for any discussion with Hamas have not changed," McCormack said. "We don't detect any movement at all."

U.S. President George W. Bush hopes Israel and Abbas can strike a deal on a Palestinian state before he leaves the White House in January. But Israel has warned it could review its ties with Abbas if he were to mend relations with Hamas.

After Hamas won a parliamentary election in 2006, Israel, the United States and European Union imposed sanctions that were lifted only when Abbas dismissed Haniyeh's government last June.

Yemen tried to broker a deal between Fatah and Hamas in March but efforts broke down after disagreement over whether Hamas should cede control of Gaza before formal talks started.

Arab ministers have said Hamas must cede control of Gaza and have backed the Yemeni proposal. Erekat said Abbas would travel to Arab states to ask them to help implement that proposal.

A Hamas spokesman said Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa called Haniyeh and "praised the new spirit that dominates the Palestinian situation". Moussa also called Abbas, he said.

(Writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Sami Aboudi)