Ramallah - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with moderate Hamas officials Friday, his first talks with the Islamic movement since it violently seized sole control of the Gaza Strip from security forces of his rival Fatah party nearly five months ago. The three Hamas officials from Ramallah included former deputy premier Nasser al-Sha'er, who told reporters the meeting was not prearranged, but said he was invited into Abbas' office after joining Friday prayers at the compound.
Al-Sha'er, who belongs to the moderate stream within Hamas that has begun to criticize the June 15 takeover, said they discussed a number of issues, including the problems between Hamas and Fatah.
Abbas' office said the meeting constituted no conciliation with Hamas, and reiterated that the president and his Fatah movement would only resume dialogue with it if it returned the situation in Gaza to before the takeover and apologized.
Meanwhile, a new Palestinian police force of some 300 officers deployed in the northern West Bank city of Nablus Friday, as part of an agreement between Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, officials at the Nablus governorate said.
The Nablus deployment is a result of the renewed Israeli- Palestinian talks following the Gaza takeover, which had prompted Abbas to dismiss a short-lived unity government with his Fatah party led by Hamas, and appoint a moderate, though unratified "caretaker" government seated in Ramallah in its stead.
Abbas is in no hurry to reconcile with Hamas and renew dialogue with it, because he knows this would derail the renewed talks with Israel and be a deal breaker for the upcoming US-hosted Middle East conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November or December.
While Hamas has found itself isolated in Gaza, he also expects more economic aid for the West Bank at a donors' conference in December to be held after the Annapolis summit, which would boost him further in his power struggle with the radical movement.
Despite suspicions by some Palestinians that he is dragging his feet, an Israeli newspaper, meanwhile, reported that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wants to reach a peace agreement with Abbas within one year.
Olmert wants to negotiate the agreement before the end of US President George W Bush's term in office, because he considers the president "friendly" to Israel, Ha'aretz reported.
The authoritative daily said the Israeli leader made this clear in talks with Israeli officials and foreign representatives.
Ha'aretz quoted Olmert as saying in these talks that Israel had gained two "assets" under Bush, a 2004 letter to former premier Ariel Sharon, which stated that Israel would be able to keep some of its main West Bank settlement blocs as part of a final peace deal with the Palestinians, and the 2003 "road map," which calls on the Palestinians to dismantle militant factions.
"I am interested in finishing it in one year," the daily quoted Olmert as saying in one conversation. "The next administration may not be committed to these principles to the same extent."
Olmert is nevertheless vehemently opposed to publishing a timetable for the negotiations, because he said implementation of any deal will be conditional on Palestinian implementation of their security obligations under the road map.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in a news conference in Tel Aviv Thursday that despite its rejection of a timetable, "Israel is not interested in buying time. This is not the case at all."
Fayyad and Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razak al-Yehiya welcomed the 308 new officers in Nablus, who arrived at the Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters there from three months of intensive training in the West Bank city of Jericho.
Their deployment is meant as a "test" that would pave the way for a possible withdrawal by the Israeli military from the city and other autonomous areas in the future.
Nablus is considered a militant stronghold and seen as one of the cities worst hit by the anarchy plaguing the Palestinian areas. Palestinian officials say that if they prove able to impose law and order there, they can do so elsewhere as well.
The Israeli army continues to have security responsibility over the city, meaning "freedom of action" to carry out arrests of suspected militants between midnight and 6 am, Israeli security officials said.
