SA will talk to Hamas: Mbeki
06/02/2006 08:48  - (SA)  

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Cape Town - South Africa would be in discussions with the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas following its recent parliamentary election victory, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday.

An agreement was made with Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement, before the election, "that we need to meet," he told the SABC in an interview.

The planned meeting was also discussed with the hitherto ruling Fatah and the Palestinian Authority "and they had no problem with that".

The aim of the talks would be to establish what South Africa could contribute to the Middle East peace process, Mbeki said.

He reiterated the South African government's stance that a two-state scenario, with independent Palestinian and Israeli states living peacefully side-by-side, was the only solution.

Hamas' election victory has been met with caution by Western leaders.

The United States has reportedly refused to deal with a Hamas government unless the group abandoned its stated wish for the destruction of Israel.

- SAPA

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