CAIRO: A delegation of Hamas leaders met Wednesday with Al-Wafd Party's Head Al-Sayed Al-Badawy at the party's headquarters. The delegation headed by Mahmoud Al-Zahar discussed with Al-Badawy the Palestinian crisis as well as ways to reconcile Hamas with their rivals Fatah, which heads the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. "We urged Al-Zahar [to work on] resolving the internal disputes and stressed on the importance of achieving national unity," Al-Badawy said after the meeting. He said that the Palestinian issue is an Egyptian affair and that Al-Wafd would dedicate more space for it in its newspaper and its satellite channel — Al Masry — slated for launch next week. Al-Zahar said that Hamas are not at odds with Fatah and are not fighting over authority but are ready to cooperate. "It is originally a conflict between those who choose resistance and those who think that peace can be achieved on less than 22 percent of the land. But we will respond to the demands of our Arab neighbors and stop ongoing struggles," he said. "We won't be a tool for the destabilization of Egyptian national security and we are ready to cooperate with the new Egyptian leadership which will benefit the Palestinian cause," he added. Al-Badawy said that he always stressed the importance of Palestinian rights during meetings with foreign officials like the assistant of the US Secretary of State, the US ambassador in Egypt and the European Union delegation. "I was the first Wafd leader to declare the party's stance on the peace treaty with Israel when I said that the treaty will go through a difficult test should Israel refuse to commit to establishing a Palestinian state on the land it occupied in 1967," he said. The meeting was attended by a number of party leaders and members of Hamas' political bureau. The Hamas delegation also met top officials at the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces as well as Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Araby.
