Arab foreign ministers steered clear of taking sides between Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas on Thursday, at their first meeting to review the state of Middle East peace talks since the US presidential election. The ministers told Palestinian groups they should resume without delay an internal dialogue meant to bring the West Bank and Gaza Strip back under a single Palestinian authority. They also called for an immediate end to the Israeli blockade of Gaza and promised to send food, medicines and medical supplies to Gaza immediately. The Islamist group Hamas has run the Gaza Strip since defeating Fatah forces there in July. The Fatah group of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas runs the West Bank. After a late-night meeting at Arab League headquarters in Cairo, the ministers said in a resolution they recognised Abbas as president but they also allowed legitimacy to the Palestinian Legislative Council, where Hamas is dominant. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the resolution did not do enough to end the blockade of Gaza and failed to overcome the obstacles to Palestinian reconciliation. “Such a meeting in such catastrophic conditions that Gaza has gone through must have merited an official Arab decision to completely end the siege imposed on Gaza and open the Rafah crossing (to Egypt),” he said. But he added: “Hamas will deal positively with any Arab effort that would secure the requirements for the success of dialogue.”
