Aziz al-Dewik, Hamas Speaker of the Palestinian parliament who has been jailed by Israel, on Tuesday urged his movement to reconcile with President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party.
The appeal comes in the middle of a media war between Hamas and Fatah over intention to extend Abbas' term, which ends in January 2009, and Hamas' insistence to replace Abbas with al-Dewik after the end of Abbas' term.
In a message he sent from his Israeli jail, al-Dewik urged the two factions to ease Egyptian efforts to reconcile them in dialogue that was designated to be held in Cairo this month.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, boycotted the dialogue to protest a Fatah-led clampdown against its members in the West Bank where pro-Abbas forces are dominant.
"I call on all parties to make this dialogue successful, bridgethe gaps and reunite Gaza Strip with West Bank," al-Dewik said in the message, adding "the dialogue must be held as soon as possible."
Since al-Dewik is imprisoned, Hamas will appoint his Gaza-based deputy, Ahmed Bahar, as a president for 60 days in which presidential elections should be held in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, according to the basic Palestinian law.
But Abbas' legal experts say he can stay in office for an additional year, relying on an amendment that the presidential elections should be held together with the parliamentary elections when the term of the current parliament ends in 2010.
Source: Xinhua
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