Ramallah/Occupied Jerusalem: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday officials from the Islamist group Hamas were holding meetings with Israel to end the blockade of Gaza and ease access for goods and people.
Israel denied the meetings had taken place, saying there was a policy of avoiding contact with Hamas.
Asked by Al Arabiya television if he was aware of such meetings, Abbas said: "There are meetings taking place between Hamas and Israel, there were meetings held on Erez [crossing point] and there are ongoing meetings in other places."
Abbas, speaking in the Jordanian capital Amman after talks with King Abdullah, gave no further details of the Gaza discussions.
Israeli Defence Ministry Official Shlomo Dror said: "This is absolutely untrue. We do not have any meetings with Hamas. Indeed, there is a strict policy of avoiding all contacts with Hamas."
"The last meeting we held with Palestinians at Erez was with businesspeople who have no connections to Hamas. These were people known to us.
"We don't have security information on every single person. If we find out someone is from Hamas, we have nothing to do with him."
Hamas seized control of the enclave in June after fighting with Abbas's security forces. Israel declared Gaza an "enemy entity" in September as the Islamist movement refused to halt firing makeshift rockets into Israel.
Tension mounted between Israel and the Palestinians yesterday, the eve of fresh talks between the two leaders, as they traded blame over a lack of progress ahead of a US conference.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas are to meet one-on-one at Olmert's official Jerusalem residence today for the second time this month, officials on both sides said. Their negotiating teams met again on Wednesday in a bid to hammer out agreement on a joint statement to provide the basis of the US meeting planned in Maryland later this year as an outline to solving the Middle East conflict.
Washington hopes the international gathering in Annapolis, for which no date has been set or any invitations issued, will provide a stepping stone to direct negotiations on a permanent peace deal.
But Israel yesterday accused the Palestinians of stalling efforts to reach an agreement ahead of the conference by trying to exceed agreed parameters and said that talks had not yet broached the actual content of the document.
"We are still stuck at talks on the rules of engagement because the Palestinians want to discuss other things that go beyond the mandate Abbas gave them," a government official said under the cover of anonymity.
Imposing sanctions on Gaza Strip
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak gave the green light yesterday to reduce Israel's supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip as a response to Palestinian rocket attacks from the territory, political sources said.
It was not immediately clear when power cuts would begin in Hamas-controlled Gaza, where 1.5 million Palestinians live, the Israeli sources said.
Barak's approval was the final step needed before any reduction of electrical supplies could be implemented following an Israeli security cabinet decision last month to declare the Gaza Strip an "enemy entity" and impose sanctions.
