Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas movement declined an invitation by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to host the national reconciliation talks in Tehran, Palestinian officials said Saturday. Sa'eb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said in an interview with the Voice of Palestine Radio that Abbas told his Iranian counterpart that “there is no justification for the resumption of reconciliation talks with Hamas after it closed the election centers in Gaza Strip and refused to allow the Palestinian Central Elections Committee to prepare for elections there." The Iranian president offered to host the reconciliation talks in Tehran during the Abbas' visit to the country last week for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit. “All Palestinian groups should be united, because then they will have more chance of freeing their land," Ahmadinejad told Abbas. Erekat added that the Palestinian president told Ahmadinejad that “Egypt is the main broker of the Palestinian reconciliation and any contribution in this file should be coordinated with Cairo." For his part, the Hamas leader and the spokesman of its parliamentary bloc Salah Al-Bardawil said that “it is unbelievable to transfer the reconciliation file to Iran or any other country." Al-Bardawil added that “Egypt played a long and a key role to reconcile the Palestinian factions." Representatives of the rival movements have signed on May a new national reconciliation deal to end to end five years of internal division. According to the Egypt-mediated deal, the two movements agreed to start voter registration in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and abroad for the presidential and legislative elections as well as elections of the Palestinian National Council, parliament in exile. The movements also agreed to form national unity government. No breakthrough that can lead to the implementation of the deal has been reported.
