UN chief has no plan to meet Hamas PM

Tel Aviv, Mar 25: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he would test the waters for West Asia peacemaking in talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders but had no plans to meet Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas. Arriving in Israel for his first official visit as UN chief, Ban said the Quartet of West Asia mediators, which includes the United States, and moderate Arab states were all pushing to restart long-stalled negotiations.

''Our challenge is to weave these strands together into a fabric of tangible progress. I am convinced there are many common goals,'' he said.

Ban met Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz late today. He is scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas tomorrow and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday.

''I will say that my itinerary schedule at this time does not include my meeting with Prime Minister Haniyeh,'' he told a news conference earlier in Cairo.

Palestinian cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad of the Islamist Hamas movement criticised Ban's decision not to meet Haniyeh.

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.

Hamas has not accepted the conditions of the Quartet, which also includes Russia and the European Union.

Hamad said: ''(Failure to meet Haniyeh) would be wrong because this is a government of national unity that represents the entire Palestinian people and the United Nations is supposed to be an organisation that represents all countries and not a political organisation.

''It will not serve to create an atmosphere of stability ...

We hope the United Nations will play a bigger role in narrowing the gaps and in opening dialogue between countries and not to adopt the style of boycott,'' he added.

In addition to meeting Abbas, Ban is expected to meet the Palestinian ministers of finance and foreign affairs, who are independent of Hamas.

Reuters