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Hamas dismisses reconciliation talks with Fatah

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-22 21:14

DAMASCUS, Syria -- A senior Hamas official has dismissed any reconciliation talks with the rival Fatah group.

Palestinian women walk past a destroyed house in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip. A senior Hamas official has dismissed any reconciliation talks with the rival Fatah group. [Agencies]

Related readings:  UN Chief calls on Israel, Hamas to forge lasting truce  Hamas seeks to restore order in Gaza  Israel pulling out of Gaza; Hamas ceases fire  Fighting slows as Hamas offers truce

His remarks Thursday followed claims by the militants that they emerged victorious after the group survived a relentless three-week offensive by Israel on the Gaza Strip.

Sami Khater, a member of the militant group's Damascus-based branch, says Arab and international donations to reconstruct the war-devastated Gaza should go directly to Hamas and not to rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose faction rules the West Bank.

Khater says Abbas and his Palestinian Authority cannot be trusted.

Khater says a Hamas delegation will travel to Cairo this weekend for talks with Egyptian mediators on ways to consolidate a Gaza cease-fire in place since last Sunday.