RAMALLAH- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced Sunday for the first time that he is considering to visit the Gaza Strip soon, as officials of the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the enclave, called his declaration a " propaganda maneuver." Achieving an inter-Palestinian reconciliation "would encourage me to go for this step (visiting in Gaza)," Abbas was quoted by the Ramallah-based al-Ayyam Daily as saying during his tour to the United States, France and Egypt, which ended five days ago. It is the first time that Abbas publicly declared that he intends to visit the Gaza Strip, since Hamas seized control of the blockaded impoverished enclave by force in June 2007 after routing Abbas's security forces. Answering a question of al-Ayyam on when he will visit Gaza, Abbas replied "I ask this question to myself hundred times and I think in many occasions to go there. But, then I tell myself maybe it's better to visit there once the reconciliation is reached, because this visit will be helpful." Sami Abu Zuhri, the Gaza-based Hamas spokesman, told Xinhua that Abbas's declaration related to his intention to visit the Gaza Strip "is a just a maneuver" and "just a propaganda, and Hamas movement hasn't been officially informed that he will visit Gaza soon." Asked if the visit would help pushing forward the efforts to achieve the reconciliation, Abu Zuhri said "basically such a visit will not happen, because he made previous statements that he intends to visit, but nothing so far had happened."
