No plan to meet Hamas premier: Ban Ki-Moon

Cairo, Mar 24: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon today said he had no plans to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh during his West Asia tour.

''I will be meeting with President (Mahmoud) Abbas and other members of the cabinet. At this time I will say that my itinerary schedule at this time does not include my meeting with Prime Minister Haniyeh,'' he told a news conference in Cairo.

The United Nations is part of the international Quartet, which is demanding that the Palestinian government recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept old agreements with Israel.

Haniyeh, as a leading member of the Islamist movement Hamas, has not accepted the conditions of the Quartet, which also includes the United States, Russia and the European Union.

Ban said he might also meet the Palestinian ministers of finance and foreign affairs, either with Abbas or separately. The two ministers are independent of both Hamas and of Abbas's secular Fatah movement.

Reuters