Hamas calls for end to peace feelers after arrests

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas urged President Mahmoud Abbas Friday to suspend exploratory peace talks with Israel following Israel's arrest of two Hamas legislators, and to stop his cooperation on West Bank security with the Israelis.

Hamas' Gaza Strip leader Ismail Haniyeh, recently back from a tour of Arab states, praised the rise of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world and predicted "black days" for Israel "because the nations know their path now."

Israeli soldiers Thursday arrested senior Hamas official Aziz Dweik, speaker of the Palestinian parliament, on suspicion of involvement with terrorist groups, and detained another lawmaker of the group from Bethlehem, Khaled Tafish.

Hamas said Dweik was taken into custody at a checkpoint near the city of Ramallah. It accused Israel of trying to undermine moves by Abbas and Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal to end four years of bitter rivalry and unite the two main Palestinian factions.

Haniyeh, speaking at a Gaza mosque after Friday prayers, said Abbas should call off meetings with Israeli negotiators in Jordan which are aimed at reviving peace negotiations suspended 15 months ago.

"The pointless and failed meetings should stop. These failed experiences should stop," he said. "A Palestinian should not shake the hand of his enemy, the enemy who arrests the symbols of Palestinian legitimacy."

"We want to see something in the West Bank. We want to see the prisoners freed. We want to see the security coordination with the (Israeli) occupation stopped," Haniyeh said.

"Palestinian reconciliation and security cooperation with the occupation are two parallel lines that cannot meet."