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Representatives of the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers will hold talks on Tuesday in Jerusalem for the first time since Islamic militants seized control of the Gaza Strip, UN and Israeli officials said on Friday. The meeting will come a day after Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders get together in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik to discuss prospects for resuming peace talks that have been effectively stalled for seven years. Efforts to restart the peace process have been complicated by the emergence of a two-headed Palestine ruled by the Iranian-backed Hamas in Gaza and the Western-backed Fatah in the West Bank. But moderate regional leaders were quick to use this development to try to promote peacemaking between Israel and moderate Palestinians in the West Bank, led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. Immediately after Hamas routed Fatah-led security forces in Gaza, Abbas expelled Hamas from its governing coalition with Fatah and installed a new government of moderates. In confirming the Quartet meeting, Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said it will be of low-level envoys. A higher-level meeting of officials from the Quartet - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations - was to have taken place on Monday in Egypt. But that session was delayed to give Quartet officials time to assess changes in the region following Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza last week. A UN spokesman in Jerusalem, Brenden Varma, said the officials gathering in Jerusalem on Tuesday would be "comparing notes". In Moscow, Sergei Yakovlev, a Russian Foreign Ministry envoy for Middle East peacemaking, said officials "will discuss the situation in the region, the talks for the Quartet and plans of action for the future", Russia's Interfax news agency reported. Abbas will meet on Saturday in Amman with Abdullah and on Sunday in Cairo with Mubarak to coordinate Monday's summit, Abbas' office said on Friday. In Gaza City on Friday, deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Fatah would not be able to exclude Hamas when determining the future of the Palestinian people. And he derided international attempts to sideline the Islamic group. "There is a big force that nobody can wipe out," Haniyeh said in his weekly Friday sermon, referring to Hamas. He also promised to give a detailed political speech in coming days to clarify the group's positions. Hamas spokesman Salah Bardawil denounced Monday's summit and said Abbas would not be able to wipe out "Hamas' sovereignty". In related news, a top Fatah security commander resigned on Friday over his failure to prevent Hamas' takeover of Gaza, Palestinian officials said. The official, Rashid Abu Shbak, headed the Fatah-linked Internal Security force in Gaza and the West Bank. (China Daily via agencies June 23, 2007) |
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