Hamas calls for Palestinian reconciliation

Damascus: Hamas called on Thursday for reconciliation with supporters of rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas but insisted on pursuing 'resistance' against Israel.

The condition appeared to preclude any agreement with Abbas, who seeks a peace deal with Israel and whose moderate Fatah faction was not among the groups that backed the statement by eight Damascus-based Palestinian factions including Hamas.

The call came days after Israel ended a devastating war against the Islamic rulers of Gaza which Palestinian officials say killed about 1,300 people.

Hamas seized control of Gaza from Fatah in 2007 and Fatah set up a rival Palestinian government in the West Bank. It has been conducting peace talks with Israel for more than a year. The eight factions said they will reject any political reconciliation deals that hinder the 'continuity of the resistance' against Israel, a condition Fatah is sure to reject. Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction, a stance that has brought international efforts to isolate Gaza.

Abbas' Prime Minister Salam Fayyad made a plea for reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, saying the alternative is a permanent rift that will destroy Palestinians' dreams for their own state.

"The world would like to help us but everyone says that we should have a national unity government," he said after meeting with donor country representatives in his West Bank office on Thursday. "The world wants to help us and we should help ourselves."

But Hamas leaders have been cool to any suggestions of power-sharing with Fatah in the aftermath of the war. While they were calling for national reconciliation, senior Hamas officials insisted on Thursday that Hamas have sole control over all international donations to rebuild Gaza after the 23-day war with Israel, saying Abbas' Fatah cannot be trusted to handle any of the aid.

Control over the funds would put huge sums of money expected to flood in from abroad at Hamas' fingertips and could give the group international recognition.