Hamas official: Palestinian reconciliation in peril

Unless practical steps were taken to prepare the ground for the national reconciliation, the entire process could be undermined, Youssef Rezqa, the political advisor to the Prime Minister of Palestinian government in Gaza Strip, warned. "The continued detention and new arrests of (Hamas) political activists in the West Bank as well as the negative remarks about the visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to Gaza by no means signal goodwill about reconciliation," Rezqa said in a press release here on Wednesday. He was referring to the criticisms by the Palestinian Presidential office that Razak's visit to Gaza yesterday "deepened the political divide" between the Hamas-ruled Strip and the Fatah-ruled West Bank. He hailed the visit as historic in the sense that it is the first visit by leader of a non-Arab Muslim nation to Gaza. "Besides its political significance, the visit sends signals about economic, humanitarian support to the Palestinian people in Gaza," he said, noting that Razak travelled thousands of miles to show solidarity with the Gazans. Meanwhile, the Hamas official renewed commitment of the group to the efforts aiming to advance the reconciliation in the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and prepare for the legislative elections in the occupied territories.