By Xinhua
Gaza : The Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, on Monday played down the reported progress of talks between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said that any political agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was “meaningless if Hamas doesn’t approve it.”
Earlier, Palestinian local media reported that Abbas and Olmert have made good progress during their secret talks to reach a declaration of principles to propose during the November international peace conference.
Abu Zuhri said that the Palestinian leadership “sticks to the vacuous Israeli promises and runs behind the mirage of negotiations.”
“The discussions between the Israeli occupation and the (Palestinian) Authority are just bids to reach joint understandings without the minimum commitment by Israel,” he said.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has said aides of Abbas and Olmert were in contacts to arrange a meeting between the two leaders.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Tony Blair, the newly-appointed Quartet peace envoy, will arrive in the region next month, Erekat added.
As a result of the infighting in June, Palestinian territories are now politically divided into two parts, the Gaza Strip under the sacked Hamas unity government led by Ismail Haneya and the West Bank under the caretaker government headed by Salam Fayyad.