The Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday rejected calls by President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party for sending Arab forces to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip to end the Palestinian schism.

"Hamas will not accept any solution to be imposed by force," Ayman Taha, a Hamas official in Gaza, told Xinhua.

Earlier, Azzam al-Ahmad, a Fatah official, said his movement supports any Arab country "that adopts a forcible solution to end the split which is a black page in the Palestinian history," referring to Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza in 2007.

Al-Ahmad's statements came against the backdrop of that rival Hamas and Fatah remained far from achieving reconciliation in the Egyptian-mediated talks, which have undergone five rounds.

Taha said Hamas "showed flexibility in the (reconciliation) dialogue since the outset to make it successful," accusing Fatah of being behind the obstacles that obstructed the Cairo-hosted talks.

The two movements seek a national agreement ending the split between Gaza and the West Bank through forming a unity government and holding elections. However, they failed to agree on a political platform for the government due to their different political agendas.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2009)