The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Ramallah

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called on Wednesday for reconciliation talks between his Fatah party and Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip from forces loyal to him last June.

"I call for a comprehensive national dialogue based on the Yemeni initiative," Abbas said. He pledged to seek Arab and international support for his initiative, which he said was aimed at "re-establishing the unity of our people."

In March, Hamas and Fatah reached a Yemeni-brokered deal to open their first direct talks since the Islamists' bloody seizure of the Gaza Strip. Hamas's first reaction to the Abbas initiative was favourable.

The group's supremo in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, "receives favourably this very positive call for a national dialogue in line with the Yemeni initiative," spokesman Taher Nunu said.

Haniya "will deliver his official response tomorrow (Thursday) either during a speech or a news conference."

Since Hamas's June takeover, the two factions have had no direct contacts, with Abbas having repeatedly said he will not negotiate with Hamas unless it first returns Gaza to his control, a precondition Hamas has always rejected. The so-called Sanaa Declaration was signed by Fatah parliamentary leader Azzam al-Ahmed and Hamas number two Mussa Abu Marzuk.

It aimed to end the bitter stand-off between the longtime rivals since Hamas drove forces loyal to the Fatah party of Abbas out of Gaza in a week of deadly street battles.

As well as the restoration of the national unity government in power before the Hamas takeover and the re-establishment of the Palestinian leadership's authority over Gaza, the Yemeni initiative also provides for early elections.

Hamas's action-denounced as a coup by Abbas-effectively split the Palestinian territories into two separately ruled entities, and the Palestinian president had refused any talks until the Islamists relinquished the territory.