A statement to this effect is believed to have been made by Meshal, the political leader of the Islamic movement, to the secretary of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, following the conclusion of the Arab mediation among the Lebanese factions.

London (AsiaNews) - Hamas is open to mediation by the Arab League to resolve its disagreements with Fatah.  The willingness of the Islamic movement was manifested by its political leader, Khaled Meshal - who lives in Damascus - in a telephone conversation with the secretary general of the league, Amr Moussa, according to the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al Awsa.

In recent days, Hamas expressed a positive view of the mediation conducted by the Arab League in the longstanding Lebanese dispute, concluded with the agreement in Doha, Qatar.  Now, according to statements attributed to Moussa, Khaled Meshal has "expressed willingness for a process of the same nature to end the dispute between Fatah and Hamas".

Moussa added that the Arab League wants "to solve a number of problems", first of all by "achieving a unified Palestinian political stance".

The longstanding political disagreement between Hamas and Fatah exploded in June with the clashes that brought the Islamic movement into control of the Gaza Strip, and led Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to declare the failure of the government of Ismail Haniya.  The restitution of control of the Strip is one of Fatah's conditions for the process of reconciliation.

• Palestine
• Hamas
• Fatah
• Arab
• League
• mediation
• political
• dialogue
• reconciliation
• Gaza
• Strip