The Palestinian military group "Hamas" wants Russia to put pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to start negotiations on the formation of a government of national unity in post-war Gaza, a high-ranking representative of the group told RIA Novosti after talks in Moscow, Reuters reported.
Musa Abu Marzouk, a member of the political bureau of "Hamas", met in Moscow with the Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Bogdanov.
"We discussed issues related to Palestinian national unity and the creation of a government to rule the Gaza Strip after the war," Marzouk said. According to him, the group "Hamas" has asked Russia to encourage Abbas, who is attending the BRICS summit in Kazan, to start talks on a government of national unity.
Abbas is the head of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied Palestinian territories. The Palestinian Authority was established three decades ago under peace agreements known as the Oslo Accords and exercises limited authority over parts of the occupied West Bank, which the Palestinians want to become the core of a future independent state.
The Palestinian Authority is controlled by the political movement "Fatah" of Abbas and has long been at loggerheads with the Islamist movement Hamas, which rules Gaza. The two factions fought a brief war in 2007, after which the "Fatah" was driven off the strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu firmly opposes the possibility of the Palestinian Authority participating in the governance of Gaza.