Al-Ashqar calls for reconciliation success

Ismail Al-Ashqar, an MP in the Palestinian Legislative Council, has confirmed that the Hamas movement has a clear national political programme for the next Palestinian government that must be established through the will of the Palestinian people away from foreign interference. The MP from Hamas, who returned to Gaza last weekend after a trip abroad with a number of deputies, confirmed that the delegation of MPs were widely praised during the tour for the position of the Hamas movement with regards to their stance on the national reconciliation, and their line of action towards ending the political division between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Al-Ashqar indicated in a statement to ArabsToday that there are many who blame the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for hindering the reconciliation. People claim that he does not want the reconciliation to be achieved, in contrast with Hamas's sympathetic position towards it. Al-Ashqar explained that several points were made by foreign decision makers and politicians during the tour about the necessity of activating the Palestinian reconciliation which they claimed to be in favour of the Palestinian cause. Al-Ashqar criticized the absence of the role of the embassies representing the Palestinian Liberation Organization in other countries, and their failure to attract the masses and to gain public and official sympathies for the Palestinian cause in order to face Israeli policies. He added: "Palestinian embassies abroad are not working, and it is as though they do not even exist. This is painful and sad, as I do not hear about them in the news, and there is no consideration for them in other countries." He pointed out that there is great potential for these embassies to institutionalize support for the Palestinian cause, and to help bring about its liberation. The MPs Khalil Al-Hayya, Yahya Al-Abadsa, Jamal Sakik, Youssef Al-Shariqi, and Huda Naim all participated in the foreign tour. The tour covered both Malaysia and Turkey and included several conferences and workshops.