GAZA - Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haneya has not received any letters from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas regarding inter-Palestinian split, an aide to Haneya said on Saturday. "The government in Gaza hasn't got any written letters from Abbas through" Jamal Al-Khoudary, the independent lawmaker who met Abbas in Amman last week, said Yousef Rizka, Haneya's political advisor. Abbas and Al-Khoudary, who maintains good ties with Hamas, "only exchanged ideas" about the Palestinian reconciliation, he added. Earlier on Saturday, Azzam Al-Ahmad, an official from Abbas' Fatah party, said the Palestinian president has assured Hamas, in a message given to Al-Khoudary, that the Islamic movement's reservation on an Egyptian proposal for Palestinian unity would be considered after Hamas signs the Egyptian plan. Last year, Hamas rejected Egypt's offer to reconcile with Fatah. Such reconciliation would have ended a political split between Gaza and the West Bank, since Hamas routed pro-Abbas forces and took over Gaza in 2007. Meanwhile, Al-Khoudary refused to comment on the report, telling Xinhua that the efforts to reconcile Hamas and Fatah " should remain away from media." The need to end the Palestinian division and lift the Israeli blockade on Gaza, which was imposed in response to Hamas' takeover, took an urgency after Israel killed nine Turkish activists on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last month.
