Palestinian group Hamas is open to Arab mediation in its dispute with rival Fatah faction of President Mahmoud Abbas, the Arab League chief said in remarks published on Sunday.
Amr Moussa said Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal expressed the Islamist group's view during a telephone conversation to congratulate him for achieving rapprochement between Lebanese rivals, Asharq al-Awsat reported.
"Brother Khaled Meshaal spoke with me ... expressing willingness for a process of the same nature to end the dispute between Fatah and Hamas," Moussa said. Qatar, spearheading an Arab League initiative, brokered a deal between Lebanese leaders last week defusing 18 months of political stalemate that erupted into fighting this month.
"Now there are many voices that demand a role for the league in all files and to continue this momentum to solve a number of problems, primarily ... achieving a unified Palestinian political stance," Moussa said.
Hamas Islamists routed Fatah forces to seize control of the Gaza Strip in June. After the take-over, Abbas dismissed a Hamas-led government and appointed a new Western-backed cabinet in the occupied West Bank.
Fatah has often said it wanted Hamas to relinquish its control over the Gaza Strip as a condition for reconciliation. In March, a Yemeni mediation failed to end the dispute.
Moussa said he was surprised that US President George W. Bush wasted a chance to improve the image of the United States in the region and questioned Washington's seriousness about Middle East peace.
"I was surprised that he visited the region without making progress or implementing his official promise for ... two states," Moussa, who heads the bloc of 22 Arab states, said. "This places question marks; until when? where is the solution? where are the efforts he (Bush) speaks of at every occasion? where is the progress?"
Bush angered Arabs when he lavished Israel with praise during a visit earlier this month without pressing the Jewish state to heed his call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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