WASHINGTON: Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman held talks on Wednesday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a US official said.
“She met him, the State Department official told AFP on condition of anonymity without elaborating on the substance of the meeting.
Suleiman, who has not spoken to the media, met Tuesday with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell as well as with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, officials said.
An Egyptian official who declined to be named said Suleiman was in Washington to seek a softer stance on Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, so that it can participate in an internationally-recognized Palestinian unity government.
Hamas and the Western-backed Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have been bitterly divided since Hamas, after winning a majority in a 2006 parliament election, seized Gaza in June 2007, limiting Abbas’s authority to the West Bank.
During her March 4 visit to Israel, Clinton said the administration of President Barack Obama would not work with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas, unless the movement recognizes Israel and renounces violence.
“If there is to be a unity government that includes Hamas, then we would expect that Hamas would comply with the principles as set forth by the Quartet, she said.
The Middle East Quartet, comprising the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union, has set conditions on dealing with Hamas that require the movement to recognize Israel, renounce violence against the Jewish state and comply with past Palestinian-Israeli agreements.
Hamas says those conditions are unacceptable.
Senior delegations from Hamas, Fatah and other groups began work in Cairo on March 10 to resolve their differences.
But negotiators said the talks continue to stall on the future government’s program. -AFP
