Egypt envoy in US to seek softer stand on Hamas
AFP/File – Egypt has sent Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, seen here in 2007, to Washington to seek a relaxation … 
CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt has sent a senior official to Washington to seek a relaxation of the US conditions for recognition of a Palestinian unity government including Hamas.
Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, Egypt's pointman for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, was in Washington on Tuesday, an Egyptian source said, asking not to be named, amid faltering Palestinian reconciliation talks in Cairo.
Senior delegations from the Islamist movement Hamas, the Western-backed Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and other groups began work on March 10 in committees formed to resolve their differences.
Fatah and Hamas have been bitterly divided since Hamas, which won a majority in a 2006 parliament election, seized the Gaza Strip in a week of deadly fighting in June 2007, thus limiting Abbas's authority to the West Bank.
"Egypt is making efforts with foreign parties, notably the US administration, to obtain agreement to a compromise formula that would be acceptable for Hamas and the international community," Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine delegate Kayed al-Ghoul told AFP.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit is also currently in Brussels for talks with officials including European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
The Middle East Quartet -- consisting of the US and EU as well as the United Nations and Russia -- has conditioned dealing with Hamas on its recognition of Israel and commitment to past Palestinian-Israeli agreements.
Hamas, and some smaller Palestinian factions, say the Quartet's conditions are unacceptable.
Hamas has said it will not agree to abide by previous commitments either by Fatah-led governments or the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which signed the Oslo accords with Israel in 1993 that led to increased autonomy and the creation of the Palestinian Authority.
However, some Palestinian delegates have said Hamas is prepared to "respect" the obligations but not be "bound" by them. But it was unlikely that Washington, or other Quartet members, would accept such a rewording.
After the Islamists won the 2006 elections, the Quartet boycotted the new Palestinian government.
In February 2007, Hamas and Fatah reached an accord in Saudi Arabia on a unity government that would "respect" previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements and included Hamas and Fatah ministers. But the Quartet kept up its boycott.
Any transitional Palestinian government formed after the talks will prepare for general elections early next year.
The stakes are high after a devastating 22-day war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip over the new year.
Earlier this month, countries pledged 4.5 billion dollars in reconstruction aid to Gaza at a conference in Egypt. But many donors, backed by Abbas's government, have said they will not deal with the Hamas authorities in Gaza.
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