Egypt remains open to talks with Hamas, foreign ministry says

Jan 14, 2010, 13:16 GMT

Cairo - Egypt's differences with Hamas will not prevent it from holding talks with the Palestinian group, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Egyptian intelligence officials have for months been brokering talks between Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' faction, Fatah, which controls Palestinian- administered areas of the West Bank.

'Even if there are political and ideological difference with the movement, this has not prevented and will not prevent us from dealing them,' spokesman Hossam Zaki told reporters.

Egypt has also offered to broker future Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Zaki added that a reconciliation agreement between the rival Palestinian factions should not be a precondition for fresh Israeli-Palestinian talks.

'Reconciliation is another track,' he said. 'It is to strengthen the Palestinians. But it is not a condition for sitting down for negotiations, because the Palestinian negotiator is ... Mahmoud Abbas.'

Hamas and Egypt have lately sought to repair ties, following weeks of mutual recriminations, and ahead of US Middle East envoy George Mitchell's arrival in the region later this month.

'There are no problems between Egypt and Hamas,' Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal told the daily al-Masry al-Youm Thursday.

'I am ready to visit Egypt immediately, if the brothers in Egypt welcome me,' he said.

Egypt's relations with Hamas have always been strained, but have deteriorated since an Egyptian border guard was fatally shot during a protest on the Gazan side of the border last week.

Egyptian police said the guard had been killed by sniper fire from the Palestinian side. Hamas initially said the guard had been shot when Egyptian forces opened fire, but on Wednesday said they would open a thorough investigation into the shooting.

Relations between the two had already worsened following news that Egypt was building some form of underground steel wall along its border with the Gaza Strip.

Egypt has never explicitly confirmed it is building such a barrier, but has justified tightened security along the border as meant to protect the country's 'national security' and 'sovereignty.'

Egypt and Israel have maintained a blockade against the Gaza Strip since Hamas took control of the territory's security forces three years ago.