WASHINGTON (AFP) – Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman on Tuesday met US Middle East envoy George Mitchell to seek a softer US stance on recognizing a Palestinian unity government with Hamas, officials said.
Suleiman, Egypt's pointman for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, also met with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, a State Department official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Suleiman may meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, the official said.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters that Suleiman would be meeting with agency officials Tuesday and Wednesday, without naming them. An Egyptian official who declined to be named said Suleiman was in Washington to seek a softer stance on the Islamist movement Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, so that it can participate in an internationally-recognized Palestinian unity government.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit was meanwhile in Brussels for talks with European officials, including European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Hamas and the Western-backed Fatah faction of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas have been bitterly divided since Hamas, after winning a majority in a 2006 parliament election, seized Gaza in a week of deadly fighting in June 2007, limiting Abbas's authority to the West Bank.
During her March 4 visit to Israel, Clinton said the administration of President Barack Obama would not work with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas, unless the Islamist movement recognizes Israel and renounces violence.
"If there is to be a unity government that includes Hamas, then we would expect that Hamas would comply with the principles as set forth by the Quartet," she said.
The Middle East Quartet, comprising the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union, has set conditions on dealing with Hamas that require the movement to recognize Israel, renounce violence against the Jewish state and comply with past Palestinian-Israeli agreements.
Hamas says those conditions are unacceptable.
Senior delegations from the Islamist movement Hamas, Fatah and other groups began work in Cairo on March 10 to resolve their differences.
But negotiators said the talks continue to stall on the future government's program.
In February 2007, Hamas and Fatah reached an accord in Saudi Arabia on a unity government that would "respect" previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements and include 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.
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