Hamas stressed yesterday that Rafah agreement has become part of the past and what we need now is a new agreement with Hamas participation. Sami Abu Zuhri said Hamas wants to stress that it rejects to return to Rafah Crossing Agreement which is part of the past and the Palestinian people will not accept to return backward in relation to the situation on Rafah Crossing. Hamas wants a Palestinian-Egyptian crossing according to new arrangements whether through a trilateral Hamas-Fatah-Cairo meeting or a bilateral meeting with Cairo if President Abbas continues to refuse dialogue with Hamas. We will not accept any situation that contradicts with the fact which is that the crossing is a Palestinian-Egyptian crossing.

In the meantime, Hamas announced officially that a delegation from its leadership abroad and from the discharged government will head to Cairo on Wednesday upon an official invitation from Egypt and this coincides with the visit of President Abbas to Cairo who will meet with President Mubarak and Egypt will hold separate talks with both delegations on the situation in Gaza Strip and the crossings. Hanieh said we have one demand which is to end the siege on Gaza Strip and open all crossings of Gaza Strip, including Rafah Crossing which has to be reopened and the movement of people must be organized on the crossing. He announced that his movement and government are ready to respond to the call of President Mubarak on resumption of dialogue between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas also announced the arrival of Khaled Mash'al to Saudi Arabia in an official visit to discuss with Saudi official the situation in Gaza Strip. A diplomatic source in Riyadh said Mash'al will hold talks with Saudi FM on resumption of talks with Fatah.

Head of Hamas Politburo Khaled Mash'al announced that Hamas is ready to hand over the presidential headquarters in Gaza to the PA and called for dialogue on rebuilding the Palestinian security forces. In an interview with al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper in London yesterday, Mash'al said: we have no problem in handing over the presidential headquarters in Gaza and they can receive them now but to whom should we hand over the security headquarters. He continued: Hamas believes that returning to the security arrangements that existed before Hamas controlled the situation in Gaza Strip means returning to corruption, clash and explosion of the situation. He said all matters can be posed on the table and we can agree on everything; he stressed that the Palestinians must build security services and not partisan services. On the situation in Gaza, he said contacts are underway with Egypt to organize the movement on the borders and an understanding will be reached but we will not talk about details in the press. It is high time to have a Palestinian-Egyptian crossing.

Published at Al Ayyam NewsPaper on January 28, 2008