Non-Aligned Movement urges Hamas and Fatah to make up


Kyodo
Date: 05-28-06

(Kyodo) _ The Non-Aligned Movement called Sunday for Palestine's Hamas-led government and rival faction Fatah led by President Mahmoud Abbas to patch up their differences to avoid further deteriorating the Mideast peace process.

"We call on the Palestinian side to get together to project a more united front," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters after chairing a special meeting of NAM foreign ministers to discuss Palestine.

"Any disunity will derail their efforts to find a durable and lasting peace in Palestine," he added.

Hamas, known for its hard-line stand on Israel, shocked the world when it won elections in January, beating the more moderate Fatah.

The uneasy truce between the two rivals finally broke in a series of deadly confrontations in the streets of Gaza between militia gangs from the two parties in the last two weeks that has left some 10 people dead and dozens wounded.

Fatah official Farouk Kaddoumi briefed the ministers on the latest developments in Palestine.

The foreign minister in the Hamas government, Mahmoud Zahar who arrived in Malaysia on Sunday, did not attend the special meeting although he is to attend the official two-day NAM foreign ministerial meeting that begins Monday.

The NAM Committee on Palestine -- Algeria, Colombia, Cuba, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Palestine, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- adopted a statement "to help the Palestinians and to put pressure on the 'quartet,'" Kaddoumi told reporters.

The quartet refers to the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.

NAM wants negotiations to resume among the four, the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Kaddoumi expressed hope the 114 member countries in NAM would continue to support Palestine, including financially.

"We need action, not only lip service. The Europeans had over the years given us lip service," he said.

Palestine is facing a financial crisis after Western donors halted aid in a move to pressure the Hamas-led government to soften its stand against Israel.



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