Hamas denies Abbas remarks that movement leaders meet Israeli officials

Hamas officials denied on Sunday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' remarks that leaders of the Islamic movement held direct meetings with senior Israeli officials.

"Hamas considers the direct meetings high treason and certainly we never held those meetings," said Salah al-Bardaweel, a Gaza-based Hamas official.

In an interview with an Arab TV station, Abbas accused Hamas leaders of holding meetings with Israeli officials, and that the movement seeks to establish an Islamic state in the Gaza Strip.

"President Abu Mazen (Abbas) knows quite well Hamas will never accept a state in Gaza and include territories annexed from the Egyptian Peninsula of Sinai. These remarks are really astonishing," said al-Bardaweel.

Feuds between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah Party started when the Islamic movement violently seized control of the Gaza Strip and routed Abbas' security forces in the summer of 2007.

Arab and international efforts to end these feuds as well as the divide between Gaza and the West Bank have so far failed, though both signed a series of agreements and understandings in Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

"Hamas still extends its hands to work towards genuine reconciliation and implement what was agreed upon between Hamas and Fatah in Cairo, whilst Abbas' hands are extended to resume talks with Israel," said al-Bardaweel. Endit