By Xinhua
Ramallah : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and three senior Hamas officials prayed together Friday noon in a mosque near Abbas’ headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the first time since mid-June when Hamas defeat Abbas’ Fatah and seized the Gaza Strip.
The official Palestinian Satellite Television showed footage of Abbas and three Hamas leaders – Nasser el-Dein Al-Sha’er, Sheikh Husein Abu Kweik and Sheikh Ahmed Abu Ruman – praying at the weekly Friday prayers.
It was the first time that Abbas and Hamas leaders met at one place, shook hands and talked to each other since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip mid-June. The Friday prayers took place in a mosque in al-Muqata’a in Ramallah.
Palestinian sources at Abbas’ headquarters described the meeting as “fabulous and brotherly”, but denied reports that official talks were held between Abbas and the three Hamas leaders after the end of the prayers.
The prayer meeting came several hours after al-Sha’er dismissed recent statements by his colleague in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that said Hamas wished to seize the West Bank as what it did in Gaza in mid-June.
Al-Sha’er, former deputy prime minister in the deposed Hamas-led government, told reporters such statements “are not realistic and just represent their (Gaza Hamas senior members’) personal point of views”.
On Monday, senior Hamas official Nezzar Rayyan told a rally in Gaza that Hamas could take the West Bank by force in the future.
“Hamas movement rejects the principle of getting again into any violent infighting in the West Bank. We support the general attitude to achieving social peace, security and settlement,” said al-Sha’er.
He called on Abbas security forces to stop crackdown on the movement’s leaders and supporters and respect human rights in the West Bank “to avoid creating a fertile ground of violence.”