PARIS, September 4 (RIA Novosti) - The Palestinian president said dialogue between his Fatah movement and Hamas may be possible only after presidential and parliamentary elections in 2010.
"As for dialogue with Hamas, we believe it would be better to wait for the presidential and parliamentary elections slated for January 24, 2010," Mahmoud Abbas said at a news conference in Paris.
Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip and pushed the Fatah movement out of the enclave of 1.5 million in June 2007. The radical Islamic group has since remained in power in Gaza, independent of the officially recognized government of Fatah in the West Bank, which is headed by Abbas.
The armed clashes came some 18 months after Hamas had won Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006.
Fatah has renounced violence, while Hamas refuses to recognize Israel and reserves the right to use violence in its struggle to create a Palestinian state.
