Hamas: We're in no hurry to talk with Abbas

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DAMASCUS - Hamas will not push for Palestinian reconciliation talks if President Mahmoud Abbas insists on the supremacy of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the Islamist group said Monday.

In a statement mocking Abbas and his supporters, a high-level Hamas official accused Abbas of siding with Israel during its recent invasion of Gaza, and seeking to "return on Israeli tanks" to govern the territory. Abbas on Sunday rejected a call by Hamas to replace the PLO with an organisation less dominated by his allies, and said recognising the primacy of the PLO in representing all Palestinians was a condition for dialogue.

Earlier Monday, aides to Abbas said the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation talks will be a topic of discussion when he sits down with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Monday.

France was taking center stage Monday on Mideast diplomacy, with visits by Abbas, the new U.S. envoy to the region and the prime minister of Qatar.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1060885.html