Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat- Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas (Abu-Mazin) has stated that his meeting with US Peace Envoy George Mitchell in Ramallah yesterday focused on the issue of lifting the Gaza Strip blockade. He said in statements to Asharq al-Awsat that he stressed during the meeting that lifting the blockade off Gaza “must include all the crossings and all the needs of our people in Gaza and not somewhere in between.” He added that “I asked them to specify the commodities which they insist should not enter and not the ones that are allowed.”

On the issue of reconciliation, Abu-Mazin said he had not received any ideas from dismissed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and added: “I have not received any proposals from Haniyeh. Jamal al-Khudari (mediator) brought me some ideas and I accepted them.” As to the nature of these ideas, he said: “The Palestinian factions’ observations about the Egyptian paper can be resolved by Palestinian agreement after signing the paper. I told him go back to them and if they agree then I have no objection.” He added: “The agreement will not open… signing comes first.” He considered his recent visit to Washington “a real breakthrough”, especially at the meeting with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and said: “I was expecting 10 percent success but it was 100 percent.”